


Katherine of Cybertron

by Rangerfan58



Series: Cybertronian foster child [26]
Category: Justice League - All Media Types, Transformers - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-12 00:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17456780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangerfan58/pseuds/Rangerfan58





	1. Chapter 1

_What you recognize I don't own. As always foreign, alien and sign language is in asterisks while thoughts are in italics. The Justice League is aware of the Transformers and occasionally teams up with them during international crises but doesn't know about their adoptive human child through the will of the child's parents and the Transformers also known as the Cybertronians trusts the Justice League as far as international crises go but that's it. I am going to do my best to keep primarily to the cartoon of the Justice League but I have also read the death of Superman arc and am going to incorporate it into the story as well_

Katherine was packing bags in a room that was too big for her but that was because it needed to be big to fit her family

"Are you absolutely certain about this trip Katherine?"

"You guys already signed the paperwork Optimus, besides this is an official school trip"

Her family was the Cybertronians who had raised her since she was a baby

"Yes but that was before the trouble in Metropolis recently"

"You guys trust the League to protect everyone if it's needed or Superman only if it's his enemies"

"Yes but..."

"There's also me, I can protect everyone if need be and you know it and like I said it's an official school trip that you already agreed I could go on"

"Yes but if there's trouble you use your internal shielding which doesn't weaken you"

"Actually if I use it constantly it does, at least I won't get nothing more serious then bruises inside and cuts on the outside"

"Actually you would get very minor internal bleeding and broken bones with your internal shielding, and we didn't know using your shields constantly still weakened you"

"Neither do I necessarily but it does, and I guess I forgot that my shielding only protects my organs due to the fact that I don't use just internal shielding too often"

"Good point we'll leave you to finish packing then, you have to be at the airport by six"

Katherine finishes packing and ultimately arrives at the airport fifteen minutes before everyone else who starts staggering in five minutes before six, but everyone was there on time

"Okay everyone we have a lot to do to check in thus why we're so early"

Katherine then speaks up

"I might have something to make things go a bit faster"

"Oh?"

"Yes, I already printed all of our tickets and I also printed these tags"

Katherine reveals tags that she had made up with all of their names and also the school they attended and the school's address for all of their bags

"This ways if something happens to our luggage at least the bags will get back to school eventually"

"Good thinking Kerenai, everyone tag up"

Everyone puts on the tags and ultimately while it doesn't make things go a whole lot quicker it does go about five minutes faster with Kerenai's ideas and they take off on time at ten in the evening and arrive safely at three in the morning local time. No one had noticed that Katherine had slept lightly on the flight due to just how awake she acted once they were off the plane

"Okay everyone we'll check into the hotel that we've arranged for and then everyone gets a day to recover before we have school activities"

Katherine was the most recovered by noon on Sunday

"How can you be so chipper after that long a flight?"

"Training, lots and lots of training flying all over the world"

"Why would you go around the world?"

"Because she's an EDC kid Julie, they get weird training and she probably slept lightly on the plane too now that I think about it"

"You're right Sarah I did sleep lightly, after all I was next to the emergency exit door if something should have gone wrong I would have had to open the door and made sure everyone got off the slide safely"

"Go figure"

Ultimately everyone recovered by Monday and for three days things remained pretty calm, only two emergencies that required Superman happened and that was more because of size than anything, one emergency was an apartment fire while the other was a combination of a gas leak and a plane that had an in flight emergency that the pilot couldn't take care of in the air due to being unable to do a go around because of low fuel levels, and then on Wendseday everything went wrong, but while most people went into hiding Katherine joined the fight and was doing okay despite fighting against the problems Weather Wizard was giving with crazy winds and also snow, plus she was also dealing with Toyman when suddenly she got overwhelmed by a couple of small time crooks but she was working her way free when suddenly she was stopped with one single phrase

"Hold it right there or this man dies!"

Kerenai, who had been struggling against the ones holding her stopped cold when she saw no less then three people holding Superman hostage with Kryptonite and she was certain that the guns also had Kryptonite in them as well in the form of bullets and thus she immediately stopped her struggle right then and there just sagging into the arms in obvious defeat. She was confusing the Justice League with her actions not knowing her training or who had raised her (though they were well aware of the Cybertronians and their history with each other before the factions were no more except in certain functions where they needed to be classed as Autobot or Decepticon) Superman though spoke up for the league's benefit for the most part though he didn't know that his words also affected Kerenai

"Don't worry about what happens to me, just stop them"

Kerenai, though still acting defeated secretly prepares herself to move at a moments notice, not even giving hints that she was preparing for action by tensing muscles but as soon as her captors loosened their grips in preparation of fighting the Justice League one handed (the League hadn't moved in case of risking her either even though she had actually been holding her own against Toyman's tricky weapons) she went into a blur of action taking down her two captors and then rushing towards those that had Superman in the Kryptonite trap, she even during the fight actually succeeded in punching out Poison Ivy though she did get hit by Metallo which temporarily took her out of the fight but she succeeded in dealing with the henchmen afterwords. After the fight Superman needed to be taken to their headquarters for treatment for Kryptonite exposure but otherwise he would be fine, the League also insisted on checking Kerenai out and discovered that she had bruised ribs from the punch from Metallo but otherwise she was alright as well

"You got lucky, you should have broken ribs from a hit like that not bruised, the rest are all minor scraps and scratches, including the one I had to stitch up simply due to the length of the cut not the deepness"

"I'll explain things once Superman is awake, but only to the known founding members, they can decide what to do after that but for now only the founding members can know what's up, and I need to make a phone call in private now that I've been medically cleared"

"Of course, I'll take you to a private room that you can either call a regular phone or do a teleconference with"

"Thanks"

Kerenai decides to go for the teleconference option knowing that if the battle had been reported on TV then her family knew what had happened and would want to actually see her and she was right, both Primes, Galvatron, Ratchet, Hook and Starscream were there along with Soundwave as the communications officer

"Hey guys, I'm actually pretty fine, according to the League medic I have bruised ribs and the rest are scraps and scratches, oh and I have stitching on my leg, but that's more due to the length of the cut then the deepness apparently"

"How long was the cut?"

"From the knee to the ankle Ratchet, oh and I decided the founding members would know the story behind me and they could make the decision on letting the other league members know the story"

"No only the founding members for now K, we have our reasons behind that"

"Very well I'll let them know your rules, I'm sure that they'll abide by them"

Ultimately Katherine stayed with the League until the next Wednesday but finally Superman was recovered enough to hear the story and while they weren't happy about only the founding members knowing the truth they knew that they had to abide by them

"Well at least now we know about you and won't worry as much but don't think we won't still protect you at need"

"I know"

Suddenly alarms went off and there were several League enemies and then Katherine speaks up

"I'm coming with you"

"Oh no you're not your safety..."

"Sorry you got no choice, I see Quintessons, Sharkticons and...yep there's Cordinleys as well"

The League looks at the screen and sigh in unison knowing that Katherine was correct in that she was now going to be getting involved because they too recognized EDC enemies and the fight was intense. Katherine would have continued fighting without using her powers due to constantly able to change out her bullets from her gun because of other police officers but then she noticed that the Cordinleys seemed to be  _immune_  to the weapons and as such knew what she had to do

"All League members who don't have any armor or are invulnerable need to get the police, civilians, and themselves  _out_  of my way and stay that ways, everyone else need to be careful"

"What for?"

"For this J'onn, fortunately while you still need to be careful with your ability to go intangable and able to read my mind for when I am ready to do what I'm about to do you should be relatively safe"

Katherine then puts her hands together where the ends of her palms touch together and then calls something out

"Arranyan power blast!"

J'onn sees a burst of light and also feels what seems like a blast of heat coming from the attack. When she was done they could both tell that the enemy had been seriously hurt but it was still able to fight

"Go figure, Arranyan sword"

Suddenly Katherine is holding a sword and joining the fray physically, but everyone could tell that she was weakening, fortunately by that time the Cybertronians had joined in the fight and one was with her

"Katherine get on Ravage and get yourself out of here"

"You dock with Blaster and then I'll get on Ravage Rewind you're injured and need treatment but you won't be able to last unless you dock with Blaster immediately"

"But..."

Fortunately Blaster had gotten there by then and as soon as Rewind docked with Blaster Katherine got onto Ravage's back

"Okay Ravage get me out of here"

Katherine gives Ravage directions to the League base where she knew there were League members still there on standby, as soon as she got off of Ravage she passed out and was taken to their medical facility while Ravage stood outside ready for trouble. Fortunately the battle ended about ten minutes later and then everyone was back at the League base where there were explanations given

"She's currently in our medical care facility being watched over in case something's wrong due to the way she just passed out"

"Unfortunately that's pretty common for very complicated reasons and when she uses two specific attacks that we'll tell you she needs specific EDC energy drips to recover, drips to replace sugar in diabetics or calorie drips will also work but only under specific circumstances, have you started her on any drips?"

"No we have someone monitoring her without a heart monitor in case something goes wrong but no drips"

"Good that would have done more harm then good for reasons that we can't explain because we don't really know why it happens"

All of a sudden Supergirl comes rushing in but stops suddenly at seeing the Cybertronians due to not hearing any of the explanations yet as Katherine's medical monitor

"Supergirl what is it? Oh and it's okay to speak in front of these guys"

"It's Katherine, it's...not something I can explain actually"

"Ratchet..."

"On it Prowl"

Ratchet goes into their medical facility, or at least to the door and does a scan of Katherine and then curses in Cybertronian and then gives orders in English because the scans revealed the reason why it was like she was seizing and yet wasn't at the same time thus the reason she wasn't being hooked up to medical equipment yet, there was also the fact that she was still unconscious despite having been there for several minutes already and when one person touched her it was like she was cold to the touch despite not being hypothermic or near anything cold


	2. Chapter 2

"Get her on a high calorie drip immediately! I also want you guys to get crash carts ready just in case"

The medical staff hesitates only briefly because Supergirl confirmed those orders quickly enough, fortunately they ultimately wouldn't need the crash cart but it was a close thing, an hour later and the founding members were outside the door as well, except for J'onn who simply materialized beside her bed

"What happened?"

"The medical team is still unsure, and the robots aren't talking either"

Suddenly Ratchet spoke up

"That's because we needed to do our own tests to confirm something"

"So, do you know what happened?"

"Yes we do, it's a combination of a starting infection and a poison that she was unaware of being hit by, did anyone notice if she got hit by a weapon that the Cordinleys were holding?"

"Actually yes, as she was weakening she got hit by a knife"

"That would do it, and because you don't really know our enemies you wouldn't know what poison to look for or even that there  _would_  be poison"

"So, what now?"

"Now she continues to stay here during the treatment we'll provide to you guys, we'll also teach you how to test for all EDC poisons in one easy step in case you guys come across any other EDC enemies that use poison on a semi-regular basis"

"Thanks for that"

"I called the Primes and Galvatron, Optimus says that Ratchet has to stay here while you're treating Katherine and they want regular updates from you founding members daily and the medical team that's treating her as well, though Ratchet can handle the medical team part"

"We'll need to adapt things for you guys, both here and at the Watchtower so that you guys have easier access whenever she's in our care"

"What makes you guys think that will happen often?"

"Besides us wanting to recruit her despite her young age we already know that she's going to join in the fight whenever possible and I'm sure that you guys know that too"

"You're right we raised her too well in regards to fighting for what's right and we also taught her a little too well in regards to fighting our enemies"

"We'll have to talk to the Primes and Galvatron first though for their approval of your plans"

"Oh we're planning on contacting them directly and explaining things and why we want to do what we want to do before we actually go through with our plans"

"Very well, we'll see you once we're alerted to Katherine's completed treatment"

"We'll see you guys then, hopefully with one of your leaders to begin discussions"

"They'll make sure that one of them will be here, she'll probably need one of them after the treatment"

"Personal experience?"

"Oh yeah, and it's not a very pleasant one at that"

"What happened?"

"You don't want to know, trust me you just don't want to know"

"That bad huh?"

"Yes that bad, there are  _reasons_  the medical team at base has procedures in place whenever she's in there"

"Do those procedures involve Ratchet?"

"Yes and several other steps that you aren't  _currently_  cleared to know of"

"Currently?"

"If we become formal allies through Katherine you'll need to know a  _lot_  of various procedures for everyone's safety and those procedures involve various scenario's you might come across"

"Multiple plans for each scenario?"

"Yep, and we even have to make plans up occasionally for a known scenario because of an unexpected variable those those are generally temporary"

"How temporary is temporary?"

"Just that specific situation temporary"

"We'll adapt as needed as well, but if we do officially become allies it will be good to know the various procedures required to safely be around Kerenai, but for now I think everyone but Ratchet needs to go"

"True enough Wonder Woman, true enough"

A week later and Rodimus was at the base because Ratchet finally stated that the treatment was done and Katherine was getting ready to wake up, thus his presence was needed and the group quickly realized why everyone, especially Ratchet once the others had left insisted on them doing things their way because Katherine woke up and panicked seeing strangers, she was always startled at an EDC base but at least she recognized those medical facilities, but here, it was worse fortunately Rodimus immediately spoke up in Cybertronian, granted part of the problem was that she had almost gone unconscious completely during battle which made the problem worse

*Stand down Kerenai! That's an order*

Katherine immediately looked in the direction of the voice and saw both Ratchet and Rodimus in vehicle mode and thus immediately calmed down

"What's going on?"

"You passed out as soon as you returned to the Justice League base, that combined with a Cordinleys poison created this issue"

(Sighs) "Great I thought I was safe from that poison treatment, but I've been out for a week haven't I?"

"Yes you have"

"Which one stayed Ratchet or First Aid?"

"Me Kathy"

"Hey Ratchet, have you perfected that poison detection yet?"

"Unfortunately not, a couple of EDC officers were exposed to a different poison before you were and we didn't catch it until it was almost too late"

"Understood, am I cleared to leave the medical bay?"

"Yes, we have your homework back home I'll take you there while Rodimus and the Justice League talk about going into a formal alliance, and something else I think from what I've sometimes overheard"

"Fine, but before we leave I have something to say to the founding members of the Justice League and  _only_  the founding members"

Once the group was in a private room it was made obvious that Katherine was to start things

"Before any more official meetings with my family you need to understand two things, the first is that despite the training they've given me they're  _very_  protective of me and if it seems to them like you won't do your best to follow established procedures we will never be official allies, the second is that you guys may need to make a decision on if you're going to learn their language and even then only a few members will be allowed to learn for safety reasons most likely"

"I think we can handle meetings without learning Cybertronian"

"No you won't trust me on that one"

"How sure about that are you?"

"I've had to keep negotiations going more than once after something said in Cybertronian is taken as an insult, basically telling those people that my family wasn't insulting them they were saying something else related to the meeting"

"Calming temper flares your specialty?"

"Not necessarily, but that skill does come in handy at times that's for sure, not that I'm involved in a lot of meetings in the first place"

"Because of school most likely"

"No kidding, my education has never been allowed to slip even during periods of frequent travel to other bases around the world"

"Well for now it looks like Ratchet's signaling that he's ready for you and Rodimus promised to do his best to speak only English so it might be best if you get going"

"Will do, see you guys later then"

Two days later and Katherine was in a meeting with the three leaders to discuss important things regarding her future

"The League officially wants you to join them, despite the fact that you're only fifteen years old, they also know that you might want to be an EDC officer instead"

"This from what they saw in battle?"

"Yes, and by the way you'll be seeing them on occasion anyways if you join the EDC at eighteen"

"Officially allies then, well right now I don't necessarily know what I want to do with my life, but if I do join the League I would have two different identities for safety reasons and we would never be able to be completely familiar to each other in my League identity because it would be  _way_  too risky"

"What makes you say that?"

"There's already enough trouble being raised by you guys if it's discovered, you guys being formal allies of the Justice League won't make things easier because League enemies will be after you guys now, if I was to join the League and showed to be particularly close to you guys?...I don't think you want to see those results"

"You have a point actually"

"By the way besides J'onn who all might be learning Cybertronian?"

"The founding members decided all of them but Flash will be learning our language, Question, Green Arrow, Steel and Shining Knight are also learning the language, others may or may not learn at another time but for now we're keeping it relatively small in regards to language learning and the founding members agreed to it for a reason"

"Good, for now though I won't worry about possibly joining the League or about the EDC, instead I'm just going to focus on school"

"Not quite Kathy, you need to focus on specialized training now that we're officially allies with the Justice League they know that you may not join immediately or ever but you still need to be prepared to deal with their enemies with and without your powers"

"Understood, summer and school breaks?"

"Exactly"

"Well, at least they now know that I have powers and I'm not afraid to use them, the training would be good for them as well if only for safety reasons because I can be  _dangerous_  when I use my abilities and very few of the League can constantly be around me safely when I go full out"

"And they need to learn to obey you immediately when you tell them to get out of the way, plus even those who can handle being around you full out need to learn what to do around you in case you push yourself too far and need medical attention again, especially if you use those two attacks"

"Basically everyone needs training"

"Basically"

"Well it's still school months and as such I have homework to do"

"You caught up?"

"Yes I caught up within two days of waking up and going back to school"

"Did you get any sleep Kathy?"

"Yes Rodimus, I did the reason I caught up so quickly is because you guys taught me everything we're learning right now two years ago when I insisted on helping you guys on that one project"

"That would do it alright"

"Exactly, now then right now as I have already said I have homework, and some of that is an essay I need to start researching"

"We'll let you get to it then"

The rest of the school year turned out to be interesting because of the training Katherine was now doing with the Justice League and the training the League was getting if they were one of the ones chosen or volunteered to learn Cybertronian J'onn, Batman and Superman all learned the language relatively easily though J'onn admitted part of his ease was his mental abilities, the others were still struggling by the time summer came around but they were doing much better than before at the very least and everyone was learning the do's and dont's whenever Katherine was involved in a fight against the Justice League enemies both the League and Katherine had to figure out a very delicate balance and that was without her using her powers whenever her powers were involved that's when the training  _really_  got interesting for everyone in learning the balance with each other because the League had a tendency to want to order her around in regards to her abilities and she had the tendency not to obey because her powers were instinctive to her and she simply knew what to do at times

"Is there anything else you can think of to help?"

"Not really, you guys don't know me well so you don't fully trust me and then there's the fact that my powers are instinctive to me and as such I make my own decisions without thinking about you guys, the EDC has learned  _not_  to give me any orders unless they can tell I am in true danger or sometimes they need me to do something  _right now_  or a lot more lives can be lost and I'm not aware of it for...a lot of complicated reasons"

"Looks like we still have a lot to learn then"

"But all of us have made excellent progress I think, though...if you  _ever_  force me to practice subduing you with Kryptonite again I will use my powers to knock you out for several hours to a couple of days to remind you how powerful I am without your weakness Superman, that goes double for you Supergirl I will always use alternative weapons to the one that can kill you if I have the chance Kryptonite is my last resort, and that goes for everyone who has a weakness that can be exploited last resort  _period_ "

"How long do you think you could keep that statement up?"

"As long as it takes, I have never used a last resort against my own family for a  _very_  long time now and I've had to fight them a few times over the years as I'm sure you're aware of due to the occasional team ups during international crises"

"Actually we weren't aware of your personal involvement but we have heard over the years on occasion about one faction or the other being brainwashed and the war almost starting again"

"Exactly, and that's the reason why I know I can keep from using your weaknesses against you unless absolutely necessary if I ever have to fight against you guys"

"Very well, but still there's another reason we want you to expose yourself to Kryptonite besides it being our weakness"

"Let me guess, radiation exposure, I thought I saw some family research that stated that yes too much exposure can cause radiation sickness but that there's also a slight immunity to radiation up to certain point if you gradually increase your exposure to Kryptonite, though why that's the case is still a mystery"

"That's exactly why we want you to do that, and that will be especially handy against Metallo who can kill me and Supergirl because he runs off of Kryptonite"

"I'll think about it you two but that's all I'm promising"

"Understood, for now though time to get back to training, and thank you for explaining your actions a bit better, hopefully that will help smooth things over even more now because we may have been adjusting over training but...not as much as needed apparently"

"It's new for both sides and this will take time but we'll get there...eventually"

Suddenly an alarm went off and several League enemies were out and about again, this time Katherine was allowed to join the fight as a means of measuring the progress both sides had made and it was actually pretty good all things considered, Katherine was openly using her abilities though they were mainly her minor powers and she was also secretly shielding all the League members who weren't invulnerable or able to become intangable though she also knew that several of those people would yell at her when they found out what she had done which ultimately was sooner than she thought because all of them were suddenly attacked by Toyman missiles and they exploded full of acid but no one was even touched


	3. Chapter 3

"What happened?"

"One word Batman, me, now then I'm taking out Toyman before he does any more damage and then, well you're going to need to do treatment because I have had it with this fight...um on second thought I'm going to conserve my energy, someone call the EDC and get some family here would ya?"

"What for?"

Katherine just points and everyone sighs at the sight of Quintessons and Sharkticons

"Those guys again?"

"Looks like, they never learn"

"Don't think we're not talking about what happened earlier"

"Wouldn't dream of it Batman"

Ultimately the EDC arrived too late to help but that was only because surprisingly enough this time League enemies didn't want to team up with EDC enemies and there was a temporary truce between the two while the Quintessons and Sharkticons teamed up and after that fight happened the League finished their own enemies with all but one going back to prison and the one that didn't go to prison was because of the fact that the enemy wasn't actually an enemy but an undercover officer who pretended to be a criminal (that story was interesting to say the least once the League heard about the reasons behind that assignment)

"So...what happened? I heard that there were Quintessons and Sharkticons around"

"Oh that's easy to explain Ultra Magnus...well okay it's both easy and complicated, the League enemies decided on a temporary truce to handle the Quintessons and Sharkticons and they were finished by the time you came into the last bit of the League fight, Toyman's acid weapons and a few others were actually helpful for once instead of an annoyance"

"You're right that is both easy and complicated, I think a few officers might stay for a couple of days just to make sure the enemy is truly gone after all..."

"I know, Quintessons don't always leave immediately and they can send a second wave days after the first thinking things are lax"

"And except with the EDC things are lax after a couple of hours it seems"

"Well for now I still have League training to do since the summer isn't quite over with yet, tell the Primes and Galvatron that I'll be home on schedule as far as everyone is aware, oh and Magnus..."

"Yes Kathy?"

"Don't you  _ever_ pull that kind of drill near the League again, not only will someone be seriously hurt next time but there's also the fact that quite frankly I wasn't very happy with you at all either"

"How do you know someone will be hurt next time?"

"Because the League was pulling punches just long enough to determine that things were a drill, but they don't normally pull those punches and I already warned them about the possibility of you guys being under enemy control and they themselves have seen that on the news as well, next time some of you attack they most likely will think it real and hurt you, and that also goes for the EDC officers, though they'll still pull their punches for the most part there's still going to be injuries involved"

"Okay that explains them, what about you?"

"How many times have you told me that you would never pull that kind of drill on me? How many times have I had to fight you guys to bring you back?"

"I'm sorry Kathy, I not only forgot that you would be with the League the entire summer I also tend to forget how young you actually are because you seem so mature all the time"

(Sighs) "I know that you tend to stay on Cybertron but I can't believe you're so forgetful about my age seeing as how I visit on a regular basis still"

"You're right, I'll work on it I promise, I'll see you when you get back home because I'm being based here for a few months"

"Got it, see you when I get back home"

Soon enough the summer training was over with and Katherine was back home

"Welcome home Kathy"

"Thanks Galvatron, did you guys talk to Magnus about what he'd done?"

"Yes and he's being punished in a way that we decided on while you were gone, and no you can't have any input now it's why we didn't talk to you when we were making this decision in the first place"

"Understood"

Katherine was quickly back into a school routine and while she didn't see Ultra Magnus frequently she did see his punishment on occasion, she also started having to fight League enemies occasionally while at school because somehow they managed to find her at school due to the fact that while after the first fight she had a disguise on via J'onn whenever she fought League enemies they still remembered her first battle against them and they finally found her and as such she had a fight on her hands. However what no one knew was that J'onn's enemies, the ones that formed the League in the first place was coming back and had allied themselves with several EDC enemies, but in the meantime they were dealing with the annoyance of League enemies attacking Katherine at school

"Okay this is getting to be annoying as when I was only seven and in England for some thing that I don't really remember all that clearly"

"We're trying Kerenai, we really are trying"

"I know Hawkgirl but still...I may be forced to leave school because of this and my family and I have been talking things over and I may be joining the League after all even though I'm still only a minor"

"What about that Ultra Magnus guy?"

"He's been reprimanded and learned his lesson, there will be no more training scenarios like the one during summer, but that doesn't mean that other scenarios might not pop up, basically the next time you fight my family it will be for real"

"Good enough"

"So what kind of training scenarios might we have next time?"

"No idea, that will be all on Magnus or whoever does training regarding you guys and it's a surprise to keep you on your guard"

"In the meantime we have a different problem to think about"

"No kidding, technically I can do my GED testing now and basically be a graduate from High School, but at the same time being that young and joining the League is not necessarily something that my family and I really thought about until this trouble came up because I am still a minor and as such they have forms they would need to sign not only for me to join the League but also if I was ever hurt and needed medical attention"

"We'll figure things out eventually, for now though looks like you're either stuck at League headquarters or at the EDC base, which is nothing new to you of course regarding the base but you get really bad cabin fever when you're cooped up for too long and you know it"

"For now it's a good thing we're on holiday because I'm getting as frustrated as you guys about these constant attacks"

Eventually though they came across a good solution where Katherine transferred to a specialized school that was highly secured and the League rotated patrols for possible trouble knowing that the EDC was also going to do their own patrols considering who was raising Katherine

"So...how will transferring schools affect your education?"

"Not sure Batman, I might still graduate on time or a little late, it all depends on what the testing and their requirements say"

"Well for now it's time for some hand to hand training with me because I can also be forced to fight against you for whatever reason and..."

"And we both need to know each other inside and out for safety, and since I haven't fought against any of you in a while best start with you right?"

"Exactly"

"Better start easy then, today I won't use any of my powers but starting tomorrow I will"

"I'm going full out"

"You do that Batman I'm going to keep myself restricted for a reason that I am not explaining"

"Understood, by the way we have EDC training robots...though Superman and Supergirl have the most trouble getting proper training with it"

"What about J'onn?"

"They managed to do something that allows him to get proper training but with the Kryptonians..."

"Right I'll let my family know that still needs worked on then, but for now let's fight, and by the way Batman you're talking to someone who's been fighting against their training robots since they were five years old"

"I'm willing to bet you've also fought your actual family as training right?"

"Oh yeah"

"Understood, you have quick reflexes, the ability to break bones easily and you breaking bones is going to be harder than normal isn't it?"

"Oh yeah"

The two start the fighting and Batman discovers part of her reasons behind not using her powers on the first day, not only was she able to tell that he wasn't ready for her to go full out but her training made her naturally faster than normal and thus able to keep up with his speed and weapons throwing

"Not bad Kerenai"

"Regular training against speedsters and the fact that quite frankly they also train me against various weapons, thrown or otherwise"

"And yet you still can't beat Flash"

"Nope, because he's as fast as Blurr and Blurr has learned to deliberately slow himself down enough to properly train me then again I don't just fight against speedsters and you guys have yet to fight against a very annoying ability"

As she said that she got a hit on Batman and could tell that he felt the blow due to his wince

"Oh?"

"Yep, you try training against someone who can become invisible and win even half the time"

"That certainly makes things interesting"

"Indeed it does and all of that on top of them being several feet higher than any of us and I have learned some  _very_  interesting fighting tactics"

"I'll bet you have, enough for the day?"

"Yes, enough for the day"

The two stop the fight and it's then made obvious that both need to catch their breaths


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay...tie?"

"Tie...you...really are...a fighter"

*Live...with robots...your whole life...and see just...just how well you fight*

*So you decided to make sure we keep in practice with one of your native languages?*

*Exactly*

*Your family does the same for those that learned their language*

*Good to know*

Katherine leaves the cave and then starts doing power training with Batman and slowly goes through most of the rest of the league over time, more during breaks of course but at least the league got the required training they needed. For the next few years until Katherine turned eighteen a pattern emerged where Katherine did League training every weekend for sure and every week during breaks, and the League also trained with her family on a regular basis and while they didn't learn interesting fighting tactics like Katherine had they  _did_  learn to start trusting them and also fighting against invisible enemies though they were never going to be as good as Katherine and they knew it

"So...you never did tell us if you were going to graduate on time or late"

"Late, by half a year because it turns out that my old school skipped a few things that this school teaches and the school has a policy that if that's the case the students graduate half a year after their class year in special courses that focus on what they missed, this is so that they don't miss summer vacation like the regular students"

"We'll try and have some of us there in disguise"

"Thanks for that, oh and by the way I've finally made my decision regarding your offer, I'm joining the League once I graduate and I also know where I'm going to work after I graduate too, and it's not in the EDC or the military"

"Oh?"

"Yep, found out my passion last year during a school trip, turns out that my affinity for a camera is going to come in real handy because I'm going to be joining Clark Kent at the Daily Planet"

"You applied and already go accepted?"

"Yes and I was told after I graduated I would be welcome"

"Does Clark know?"

"Not yet, I plan on surprising him"

"By the way, have you and your family figured out how to handle League interactions?"

"Not exactly but we've been working on it, it's just not always the easiest to do"

"They did raise you after all"

"And that's the main problem both of us are having trouble working on knee jerk reactions being close to each other in my potential disguise at the base, it's not working the greatest because not only have they raised me but...there's also the fact that we're going to  _have_  to work closely together at times depending on the trouble that happens and we have yet to work out a good compromise of where we're emotionally distant enough to be considered professional acquaintances yet emotionally close enough to help one another on bad calls like you guys do at times"

"And that closeness will forceably take time to develop and you're having a hard time figuring out the speed that can happen"

"Exactly"

"Hm...the founding members will come by at some point and see if we can't help you guys out"

"Thanks"

"In the meantime Supergirl wants to do some Kryptonite training with you, she's going to be in the lead suit for her own safety but she needs to know you can handle being around it since we have never gotten reports about those training sessions"

"That was my personal request, but I can see why they need to know how things are going so I'll let my family know to expect her and to prepare the suit for her"

"Understood, by the way we do need to know the results of not only your tests but about anyone else regularly exposed to Kryptonite that isn't a Cybertronian"

"I thought that they were at least sending those reports out, I'll talk to them and see what's going on in that regard"

"Thank you"

Katherine went home and immediately went to the medical center and saw First Aid first

"Hey First Aid I got a question for you guys?"

"What is it?"

"Do you know why no reports have been sent to the League about Kryptonite exposure for everyone but me per my request?"

"Yes actually, because only Cybertronians are exposed to Kryptonite except for you, this is for everyone's safety Kathy, as it is  _very_  few people are even aware we have a piece of Kryptonite"

"Understood, by the way in case I forget can you let the Primes and Galvatron know that the League is demanding the results of my Kryptonite training when Supergirl comes and does some training with me?"

"Understood, is it safe to assume the lead suit needs to be prepared?"

"Yes it is"

"I'll see that everything is done Kathy"

"Thanks, and tell the League about the Kryptonite will you? I know for a fact that their getting nervous about it, Batman as much as told me so when he mentioned the League hadn't received those reports"

"I'll contact them immediately with that information, guess we didn't think about that worry for them"

"No kidding, I've got homework to do so I'll just be in my room with the knock sign up, one of my projects requires no interruptions if at all possible"

"Got it, good thing that rule has long since been established with everyone"

"Exactly"

Katherine wasn't interrupted fortunately and got her homework done in three hours because that project took two hours on it's own because of it's complexity, she was late for dinner but they all knew how important homework was so there was no complaints

"So, how are things going anyways in regards to school?"

"Complicated, the school is keeping something from us students but I have no idea what it could be, plus while I will graduate half a year later than the others it almost seems like they're testing me personally regarding my knowledge of my chosen field, almost as if I actually won't stay half a year later which doesn't make any sense considering their policy"

"They won't back off on their policy, but they might be testing you to see if your career choice is actually a good fit for you"

"Maybe, what about the other thing?"

"That we're not sure of, but I do want to remind you to trust your teachers to know what they're doing"

"I guess that's all I can do"

"Now then regarding Supergirl, is it the usual weekend schedule?"

"As far as I know yes"

"Okay then we'll have a suit ready for her by Saturday, and First Aid mentioned he sent a report to the League that no other human is exposed to Kryptonite, I guess we forgot that they might want to know that for other people's health"

"You know that we need to send them a report about me this time right?"

"Yes we do, why you wanted to keep it secret is beyond us in the first place"

(Sighs) *I did it for safety reasons guys, if any of our enemies teamed up with League enemies and found out that we had Kryptonite...well it wouldn't end well I don't think, and then there's the race where I accidentally got my powers in the first place, I think...my being human is helping me but that they themselves might be extremely susceptible to the Kryptonite, almost as susceptible as Superman and Supergirl, it's for their safety as well*

*I think we understand now and should have thought of that ourselves*

*I would have thought you would have thought of that when we first noticed that Kryptonite has the potential to do...interesting things whenever I activate my powers*

*I think we were thinking back to when you first developed those powers*

*Oh, that would do it*

*Indeed, for now you take a break until Supergirl comes*

*Will do*

The rest of the week was pretty normal, as usual Katherine got top grades on all her schoolwork including her project and then finally it was Saturday and everyone was simply waiting for Supergirl to come join them for Kryptonite testing, the League in the meantime had written back stating that they were glad to finally know that no one else had been exposed to Kryptonite but that the policy probably wasn't the best

"We'll work on it"

"Good, by the way Supergirl is going to be working on something with you guys besides the Kryptonite"

"Oh?"

"Batman thinks that having outside help might help you guys with what you're going to have to do once I joins the League"

"Good thinking"

Just then they saw Supergirl come in for a landing, but they could instantly tell that something was wrong because her flying was erratic at best and almost none existent at worse before she ultimately collapsed into the hands of Thundercracker who had been following her for the past mile. Once he landed he gently laid her down on the waiting stretcher and while Skyfire went to contact the League and more specifically Superman the medical team rushed her into treatment working fast and furiously to try and figure out what had happened

"Let's hope we have answers by the time Superman arrived because otherwise there might be trouble"

Unfortunately they  _didn't_  have answers by the time Superman arrived, but he also understood that not only were they not really familiar with Kryptonian physiology there were several things that could affect them, though it was primarily just Kryptonite that was problematic they had learned over the last couple of years that a few EDC enemies could also affect them and all of those possibilities needed testing to rule them out

"Superman, do you want to stay with Supergirl and delay the testing for another time?"

"Yes, that's probably for the best, once we know more I might be willing to do the tests but right now..."

"We understand"

The group gives the two as much privacy as possible knowing that the medical team would be enough of an interruption

"I hope we find answers and soon, she...she didn't look so good"

"No, she didn't and Rumble, I'm worried, very worried about what we might have to deal with if she dies"

Fortunately Supergirl lasted all the day and through the night, she didn't make any remarkable recovery as far as anyone could tell but according to Superman she was healing, just...slower than normal almost as if she was under the influence of a red sun and yet not at the same time, but her just surviving the night was good to them

"For now there's testing to be done"

"Superman...it can wait until next weekend if you like, Supergirl is more important than me"

"No she would want me to take her place in testing and I know for a fact that she  _is_  healing and as such I think I can afford a couple of hours away from her, I would know before anyone else if something changed anyways"

"Very well"

Three hours later and the testing for the day was done and Superman afterwords said that the results were interesting to say the least

"We're still trying to figure everything out even now why things happen the way they do, though I think the ones that accidentally gave me these powers might be as susceptible to Kryptonite as you and Supergirl are and as such I don't want them exposed if at all possible"

"You mean it might kill them as well?"

"Might just at that"

"We'll find a way of getting in contact with them and warning them of that possibility, but you know that they too might want definitive answers and come for those tests themselves right?"

"I know it's just...until we had more answers about me I didn't want to risk their lives, but with the way things are going I guess I don't have much choice now do I?"

"Not anymore"

"I think we'd best check on Supergirl again even though you're acting like she's okay"

When they got there everyone noticed more medical equipment surrounding her, specifically a crash cart and a  _lot_ more medication bags

"We have what's wrong, however the treatment might send her into cardiac arrest so we're going to be careful about how we go about doing this"

"Understood"

Fortunately the treatment worked and everything ended okay but it was a near thing at times. The next day Katherine found out not only why they were doing extra testing but what the teachers had been keeping from the students for so long, as for the testing it was actually standard testing for potential internships during the summer after they graduated and even those who would graduate half a year later had the chance for those internships the secret that the teachers were keeping from the students wasn't the internship opportunity though that was a secret but instead the  _big_  secret as Katherine thought of it as was a special assembly with various military and law enforcement representatives that explained their jobs and also would take them out into their fields for the rest of the school year at various points in time for one week each. The first day though was about meeting in various classrooms and Katherine was in one of those classrooms when of course an incident would have to happen

"Code Red, Code Red, Code Red, Code Red, all faculty and students follow emergency Code Red procedures...there's also a Code Black repeat there is also a Code Black as such priority is Code Red procedures repeat priority is Code Red procedures"

"Shoot this hasn't happened before has it?"

"Never"

"Well then...agent can I have your backup?"

"Kerenai..."

"Wait...you're Kerenai?"

"Yes sir"

"Have had it, I'll stay here you do what you have to do, but first I  _really_  need to know those codes to know what's going on"

"Code Red is active shooter alert so I am  _very_  glad you have a weapon on you Code Black is not quite as bad but still pretty serious where the phone lines are cut, teachers are already phoning 911 and alerting officers here to what's happening so that they can make calls over the radio too"

"Understood, I'll be ready for any trouble, but I'm locking the door behind me too, be careful out there"

"Don't worry I will be"

"And Kerenai...last resort at your discretion"

"Always"

As soon as she leaves the teacher questions the agent who was a DEA agent

"Last resort?"

"Something private that only she will reveal at need"

"Understood"

Katherine ultimately had to go hand to hand against the active shooter because the criminal managed to get the weapon away from her, but she didn't need to use her powers because her hand to hand skills were enough to get her through the fight but she was still glad to see officers with handcuffs when the shooter started to stir from her blow that stunned him enough to incapacitate him for a couple of minutes

"Thank goodness there were officers already here"

"You okay?"

"Fine, very glad I am capable of fighting, Katherine Kerenai by the way, and...one of the guns actually belongs to a DEA agent here today"

"We'll get everything sorted out eventually, but right now knowing that you're okay is the priority"

"Right...you guys found out over the radio correct?"

"Yes, we've also called emergency services just in case, but what we're wondering is why we didn't receive a phone call"

"Phone lines have been cut which might mean a second intruder that I never encountered, which is a bad thing in my mind"

"We'll check you need to get back to safety, and I don't care if you're Kerenai and have the last resort at your discretion you're going into a classroom period"

"Understood officer"

An hour later and the school was given the all clear, it turned out that there  _had_  been a second intruder, but that intruder had left after cutting the phone lines and as such wasn't part of the main attack, they were still caught anyways close to the school because they were friends with the primary intruder and wanted to see their friend safe but that wasn't to be

"Well at least there wasn't a second armed intruder, still cutting class short today due to no phone lines"

"You sure about that?"

"She's right, because we need to check and see if anything else was also tampered with as a standard EDC precaution"

"Why EDC precaution?"

"Because other schools have been attacked by EDC enemies recently using students or other adults, the pattern is always slightly different but the one thing that always remains the same is that there are two people are involved in an incident that requires the police"

"How come we haven't heard anything about that?"

"We have no idea"

And the group was telling the truth about both aspects, there recently had been a string of attacks on school students by EDC enemies and there really was no answer to why Katherine's school hadn't been alerted to the problem and the reason behind the attacks was to make the country weaker if possible by instilling fear into everyone

"I think I might be wanting to report directly to the principal for a time then"

"Until you graduate?"

"Yeah and maybe even after I graduate depending on what's going on at the time"

"In the meantime you guys have class in between going to the various law enforcement agencies for a week on their schedules"

The rest of the school year was calm and Katherine was one of the one's chosen for an internship despite the fact that the school knew that she had secured a job already, the main reason behind the internship was to give her some skill before joining her job and for some reason she had to deal with another active shooter situation though this time she ran with others and as soon as they were outside she gave one order that she hoped would be followed for their own good

"Everyone scatter!"

Once Katherine knew she was safe she called emergency services and eventually the situation ended

"You know you've been part of too many incidents recently Kerenai"

"You're telling me I am not happy about it either by the way"

"Well in any case things are contained and you're free to leave"

"Thanks"

Katherine's internship eventually ends peacefully and she gets in training with the League that was primarily hand to hand but also involved power training because she  _was_  joining the League and everyone needed to know what was going on for safety reasons

"So have you guys figured out the problem Superman went to help with?"

"Pretty much yeah, there are still a few things that might need to be worked out but we're pretty much solid on how to handle the situation until it's been long enough to be even semi-familiar with each other"

"What things still need worked out?"

"Things that have been determined to be unable to be more worked on until I am an official League member"

"Understood"

Suddenly the alarms went off and when they stared at the screen just one word went out of almost every person's voice

"No"

"What's wrong?"

"Have you completely read or been told by your family the complete history of the Justice League?"

"Yes I have, what of it?"

"Do you remember the one thing that managed to kill Superman?"

"Yes I...Doomsday?"

"Version 2.0 from the looks of it"

"Looks like I'm going all out then because I am  _not_  staying out of this fight"

"Let your family handle it Kerenai"

"Unfortunately they can't because the EDC is already involved, but they're also  _very_  restricted in that environment, normally it wouldn't be a problem but..."

"Right I think I know what you're getting at, hop in then"

"Thanks, by the way I'll do my best not to use my strongest powers right from the start"

"Why not?"

"You'll see besides not wanting to knock myself out within ten minutes of joining the fight"

"Quick question what are you going to do about your identity?"

"I'm not using the one, that's when I officially join the League instead it will just be plain old me, there's been plenty of times before that I've joined in a fight as myself so it won't be so surprising"

"Understood"

"By the way when we get there can you try and hover over the enemy and open the hatch for me?"

"What for?"

"You'll see"

Fortunately Batman was able to do as requested and he quickly finds out why she wanted to be directly above Doomsday, she had a punch planned for him enhanced by her powers and it definitely got the attention of Doomsday which was actually her ultimate goal of giving other League members and emergency personnel time to get anyone injured out of the danger zone

"Come on tough guy, let's fight"

Katherine does strong but relatively low strength attacks in that the attacks didn't sap her energy as quickly as other attacks but they still did good amount of damage which told her that yes the creature was designed to fight against Superman and hurt him whoever had created him had never encountered EDC enemies and thus had no clue about her or her abilities and thus she was  _very_  helpful in the fight and in the end while both Superman and Supergirl were injured it wasn't as bad as the last time plus the fight ended a lot quicker than it otherwise would have too


	5. Chapter 5

"Good fight"

"Thanks...but I...probably should've...gone bigger...towards the end...it might have...made a difference...when he did that one...movement"

Katherine was still struggling to catch her breath despite all her training five minutes later not knowing that part of why she was so winded was that she had actually been hit when she thought Doomsday had missed that one punch, her left side had been grazed and she had a cracked rib but fortunately her lung wasn't currently punctured (she had deliberately forgone both external and internal shielding to conserve what energy she could in case she needed to use a knockout attack)

"Think you need to seek medical attention?"

"Yeah"

She's taken to the hospital where her breathing upped her priority and that's when they discover her cracked rib and the pressure it was putting on her lung, they also realized that she was risking a punctured lung with how bad the crack was and so decided to operate instead of letting there be natural healing

"We need family permission unless you're eighteen"

"Eighteen"

"Good sign this and then we're taking you to surgery"

Five hours later Katherine woke up to a worried Captain Faireborn in her room

"Let me guess, the League"

"Not exactly, there were EDC officers there that saw you in the fight and then there was also the news being there too, as such I was already on the way when the phone call came in"

"Oh, give me a day and I'll be out and you know it"

"Indeed I do, surprised you're not as out of it as you should be all things considered"

"Training and the drugs given to me for surgery"

"Oh yeah, forgot you always did act weird with those drugs in your system and we did train you to resist drugs in case of capture"

"Even knowing I'm in a hospital setting my body is too ingrained in getting rid of drugs to not let me recover as fast as possible while unconscious"

"In any case your family wasn't too happy about being left out but they also understood why they were and they also know where you are temporarily, I just came to give them an update despite you being eighteen"

"Figured as much, for now though I think that there's a nurse waiting"

"Oh there is, I insisted on talking to you first to update you on a few things"

"Oh, what kinds of updates?"

"Besides knowing you were involved in the fight the family wanted you to know that they've secured the creature's remains and are working on a way of making sure that there's no other creatures like it so that this doesn't ever happen again"

"Thank goodness for that the League know their plans?"

"Yes and they too are relieved about that"

"Don't doubt it, I guess all that's left is to finish school and then join my chosen job after graduation"

"And the League"

"Yes and the League, but  _that_  little bit is of course secret"

"But of course"

It actually was two days after she was admitted to the hospital when she was informed she was cleared to go because the doctors decided to keep her an extra day after what appeared to be the start of an infection that they wanted to keep an eye on for a day

"I know you wanted to leave sooner and in all honesty I would have but..."

"You needed to keep an eye on me because of the fever which could indicate the start of an infection, I completely understand"

"Well now that we have all the results we need you're cleared to leave, however I would suggest following up with your primary care in about a week"

"Will do"

Katherine did indeed do a follow up and got the all clear regarding the infection but she also was informed of the fact that as she already knew she would be sidelined from any sports for at least another six weeks to allow for proper healing and when she told her family a League representative was also there

"You're banned from League training until you get the all clear from medical too"

"Oh I knew that the moment they told me I needed surgery to repair a cracked rib because that's standard procedure in my family too, emergencies are the only exception to any fighting I do period the end of it"

"Learn the hard way?"

"Fortunately no, but it was still ingrained in me from a young age that the no fighting when I was injured rule was non-negotiable, at least I learned things the easy way Lieutenant _Carson_ "

"So I wanted to get back into shape as soon as possible whenever I was injured that's not a crime"

"Except you always set yourself back at least three weeks"

"You have a point in that regards"

"In any case I know how hard and how fast to push things in order to get back into proper shape and also know to obey doctor's orders in order to facilitate such returns"

"What will you do in the meantime?"

"Heal and do what training I can do to keep myself in shape and my abilities under control"

"By the way, how are you going to keep your League identity being linked to your real identity?"

"Oh, there's ways that you don't know of, I'll be completely separate from my true self whenever I fight in my League identity even with the use of my powers"

What no one knew was that the people who accidentally gave Kerenai powers knew that until she was old enough to properly be declared an adult her abilities not only made her dangerous to the enemy but also a target, as such until she was of legal age and used her powers under her own identity long enough with a recognized authority she had the ability to make people forget she had special powers if she so chose to do so, with that ability only her family, the EDC officers, a very select few members of fellow EDC kids and all of the League knew about her abilities but no one else ever remembered her using her powers. There was also the fact that her family helped a lot also in hiding her abilities from the public by taking care of those who weren't wiped of their memories like they were supposed to by giving them special drugs that caused them memory loss regarding her abilities as such she was going to remain safe except for EDC enemies due to the fact that EDC enemies were immune to the mind wipes and as such she would be recognized no matter which identity she fought in, but due to the fact that EDC enemies were occasionally teaming up against the League that was a bit of a moot point in everyone's mind

"If you're sure..."

"I'm sure"

"Very well then, so...all that's left is half a year of school and then you graduate and officially join your job"

"Yes, it's been a long time coming in some ways but in others it doesn't seem to have been so long since I transferred to this school for safety reasons"

"So, you definitely have an identity in mind when you join the League and they know that identity?"

"Yes and we've done training with me in my costume and identity, we've also done training with my family while I was in my League identity to help us even further in how to react once I officially join the League and shouldn't know them at first"

"Okay, so I guess all that's left is you finishing your education in order to actually join the workforce"

"Half a year more and then I will be able to get a job to live on my own"

"You're still required to visit on a regular basis you know that right?"

"Oh yeah my family would never get off my case if I don't"

"In any case we need to think about how you're going to school this year after that...incident with the car recently"

"That's a good point I do need to figure something out for sure because of that incident, and I liked that car too but it is what it is"

The incident in question was a combination of an accident (another EDC kid was driving it that day with her permission because that kid's car was in the shop for a break replacement) involving a drunk driver where everyone considered it a miracle that no one was seriously hurt or killed and the police requesting that they use the car in a demonstration for high schools because the damage to the car wasn't actually all that bad, primarily a bent fender and two doors being caved in slightly but the police completely wrecked the car for their demonstration and she had yet to get a replacement car

"We'll figure everything out eventually, maybe get you a new car"

"Or my family gives me rides temporarily"

"Not Prowl or Barricade though"

"Never those two, I know for a fact that Barricade is on loan to the police in Japan of all places while Prowl is on Cybertron, but even if they weren't it would never be those two due to long established policies when I was first adopted by them"

"Wait, it's been established for that long?"

"Oh yeah, they understood the moment my parents made their request what that could mean for them in such an event"

"Understood, but other family members could still give you a needed ride"

"True enough"

Ultimately the arrangement was that Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker or Ironhide would give Katherine a ride until she found a new car for herself after going through several dealers and test drives to find the car that she liked the most

"So, you finally found your new car?"

"Yep, only took me half the semester"

"At least you have a car for your move and work travel"

"True enough"

"Though first you need to finish school"

"Exactly, getting to school will be so much easier because there are classmates that want rides with me but because I can't do that to family I have been saying no but now I can help them"

"You know that your family wouldn't have minded"

"But I do for...complicated reasons, besides everyone knows that I am borrowing cars after that accident and we couldn't have kept that up if there were others with me"

"Good point, didn't think about that one"

"Well for now all that I need to worry about is finishing the semester and going to the graduation ceremony with the others like me"

"That's right, you weren't the only transfer that year, though apparently there are times when there is only one person graduating half a year late it isn't that often"

"Exactly, now then it's time for bed so I need to get ready and then get sleep"

The rest of the school year passed by normally, Katherine gave rides to the students she had promised, students who knew she was leaving soon, but considering the fact that they were going to be driving soon enough themselves she figured that she could teach them a little bit about driving while getting them to and from school and then the day came that she graduated and while her Cybertronian family couldn't physically be there there were EDC officers and a couple of Justice League members too in their civilian identities naturally to see her transition from the life of a child to a life of a young adult, with some support still from her family until she was fully self sufficient with her job and one of the group was Clark Kent aka Superman

"Well, you're finally out of school, the Planet is expecting you on the second by the way"

"Closed down for the holidays?"

"Exactly"

"Understood"

Clark then leans in and whispers in her ear knowing that no one else would overhear their conversation

"The League doesn't want to see you until then either for reasons I am not getting into with you, ever"

"Understood, still want to see you guys at watchtower though day after Christmas"

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really, don't worry it's not to start working before you guys declare it it's for something a little more personal and private"

"Understood"

Once back at base there was a graduation party waiting for her with her adoptive family and she then mentioned that both jobs didn't want her until the new year but that she was still planning on moving into her new apartment within the next week

"We figured no matter what was decided with your jobs you would keep your promise regarding the apartment so we don't mind"

"Though...I do want some help with moving now that I think about it"

"What changed your mind?"

(Sighs) "My history teacher this last semester, turns out that he's retiring and after learning about my interest in history in general...well he just gave me his entire collection of history books, combine that with my own books and the other awards I have won at the school and it means I need help moving everything into the apartment"

"We'll get everything arranged at that time then"

"I know you will, but considering the fact that I initially said I could handle everything myself I wanted you guys to be warned that I now actually need help so that you can get the arrangements made"

"We've actually been on standby since we felt you might change your mind once you started packing your car, full arrangements haven't been made yet but we already have the start of a plan"

"Good, by the way have you thought of a League name besides your temporary one?"

"Yes I have, it's probably not the greatest but it's my choice"

"Which means they may want you to change it"

"I know, but for now it's going to be my name and if it needs changed then I will ask for help"

"Do we even want to know what you've picked?"

"Not until I am formally introduced"

"Very well"

"And while I would love to stay a little longer part of my thought process is getting used to my new home city"

"That makes sense actually, plus it also let's you get used to what the holidays are potentially like"

"Exactly"

"But still, what are you going to do besides acclimate to your new environment while waiting to star work?"

"I'll think of something, besides I have that trip to the watchtower I need to do first remember?"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that thing you had to do there even if you can't officially be a member until the second"

"Exactly, they know that I am going to be going up there but they also know that I understand that I will not be allowed to join in their patrols or fights until I officially join on the second"

"Very well just...be careful when going up there okay?"

"Don't worry I will be"

"Good, we're all on the same page then"

"By the way don't be surprised if the League asks for official meeting between EDC and new member"

"We won't be, it's why we've done all that training recently"

"That and the League has warned us of their new policy that was started about a year before you returned home after that incident in England"

"Oh...that I wasn't aware of"

"We know that, it just never affected you and as such we didn't feel the need to inform you of that little piece of information"

"Understood, still...I was nine years old when that policy was put into place"

"True, but like we said it never directly affected you due to the League long since saying that you weren't to meet any of them until absolutely necessary understanding that doing so could make you an even bigger target than what you already were"

"True enough considering the reasons behind my school transfer"

"Exactly, they were right, the meeting was unfortunately necessary at that time and you know it"

"I know, they had to fight their enemies and unfortunately being who I am, and the fact that EDC enemies got involved soon after I had no other choice but to meet and fight besides them"

"In any case we're going to formally meet you once you officially join the League as per the policy, but we're still going to have to be careful about how quickly we're even semi-familiar with each other"

"No kidding, that would just make both of us bigger targets than we've ever been considering the fact that my adoption isn't necessarily a secret amongst EDC enemies but it's also not exactly known at the same time with said enemies"

"We know, that makes things very, very complicated"

"No kidding, it's always hard to tell who knows that I'm not only Katherine Kerenai but also Katherine of Cybertron and who doesn't when fighting the enemies, though it does appear that all Quintessons know my dual identities, one of which I don't even really use unless it's for official documents"

"And even then it depends on the documents you're dealing with"

"No kidding, for the most part I use my birth name but there are certain documents that require me to use my adoptive name solely or alongside my birth name"

"Those documents are always interesting to read because not only is there dual signatures at the end but the reasons behind the dual signatures is always necessary and the wording is also very interesting"

"No kidding, I also hate those specific documents almost every single time due to the fact that quite frankly there are potential traps in the wording if I'm not careful about reading through completely"

"Wasn't aware of that bit, but now that we think about it that makes since, we're glad we taught you how to read documents from a young age with knowing that bit now"

"Same here, now then I need to start packing boxes so that when it's time for me to move into the apartment I'm ready to just drive there"

"Need any boxes for that?"

"Yes actually I do"

"Why haven't you gotten any before?"

"I tried, always failed in getting what I needed unfortunately"

"How long have you been trying?"

"Since about halfway through summer"

"That's a long time"

"Other things have either taken priority  _or_  the boxes were needed for other things"

"So  _that's_ where those boxes came from"

"Yes Captain Faireborn, that's where the boxes came from"

"Sorry"

"No problem, they were needed so they were freely given just means I don't have packing boxes is all"

"Well time to get you those boxes you need and they are  _staying_  with you understood?"

"Completely"

"Good, now then come on time to get you packing boxes and I know the best place regarding price so you're following me"

Soon enough Katherine was packed and just waiting for moving day

"So how long do you have before you move again?"

"Four days"

"Got it"

Soon enough Katherine was in her new apartment a week before Christmas and saw the craziness that the traffic had the potential to be in, Christmas that year was pretty sedate but she knew the next year she would have guests over to celebrate with her instead. And then just as she promised the day after Christmas she was up in the watchtower


	6. Chapter 6

"What are you doing here Kerenai?"

"Easy Batman, I'm not here for work I promise, however before I start with you guys there's some things that need to be taken care of and today's the best day to do so"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well besides being the day after a holiday there's also the fact that I still have a few things to do before I start both jobs for both jobs and I figured it was best to split them up as much as possible before I officially joined the League"

"You know that you could have waited until your official joining day don't you?"

"I know, but it makes more sense to do this stuff now than to wait until later in my mind"

"Very well, what all still needs to be done?"

"For you guys a full medical and a  _talk_ about my family and what their adoption really means for me"

"I thought they told us everything when we found out about you"

"Not...entirely, and that's because of the fact that it's complicated, especially now that I  _can't_  have a personal connection to them in my League identity"

"How complicated are we talking about?"

"Complicated enough that it's restricted to founding members only, no exceptions"

"Wait so we can't even decide if the rest of the League can find out?"

"Nope, no one but the founding members is to ever know about this except if the rest of the League finds out through a means that you'll be told of, that is the only way anyone else will learn the complication"

"Understood, two hours"

"Two hours?"

"Gets everyone enough time to get here and for your physical to be done, do you have medical records as well to help?"

"Yes"

Two hours later and Katherine was in the private meeting room that was for founding members only

"Okay, what do you need to still tell us about your family?"

(Sighs) "First I need to know what you're aware of regarding Cybertronian law and succession"

"The Primes and Galvatron are the primary leaders and if they fall than according to Cybertronian law as far as we're aware of a Cybertronian called Ultra Magnus is in charge of Cybertron while a Cybertronian called Starscream is in charge of those on Earth with a Cybertronian named Shockwave acting as second for both of them, after that no idea"

"Thought so, you're unfortunately wrong in what you believe, due to my legal adoption by the Cybertronians by their laws I am fourth in the chain of command meaning that if the Primes and Galvatron go down I'm in charge of a planet and the military, fortunately we discussed this when you guys offered me a place in the League despite being underage and it was agreed that I could abdicate  _most_  of my responsibilities to Ultra Magnus and Starscream, however there are still a few things that I would have to deal with on a semi-regular basis which could potentially affect my job as a member of the League"

"What all can you absolutely not abdicate to those two?"

"Certain budget matters and a few  _very_  specific treaties on Earth, other than that Ultra Magnus and Starscream are essentially in charge like you assume...oh and a certain amount of leadership training that I haven't gotten out of since I was eight years old, even while I was stuck in England I had to do training"

"What kind of leadership training?"

"The same kind of training that you guys got in the field regarding emergencies and mass casualties primarily, specific treaty leadership is also required unfortunately"

"We'll deal with that if it comes down to it but until further notice we're going to assume that nothing will happen that will require you to deal with leading an entire planet and we will of course keep this a secret, is it safe to assume the only exception to the rest of the League is if you have to announce your abdication or they somehow see you in a leadership role doing things you absolutely have to do?"

"Yes that would be the only exception, and by the way the abdication would not be broadcast live if at all to anyone but Cybertron, that will be kept private at all times with the only witnesses the leader of the EDC, most of my family and  _maybe_  one or two world leaders that aren't the President"

"So if they somehow come across you in Cybertronian leadership duties is the only way everyone else will find out"

"Yes, that's the only way non founding members will find out about the fact that I'm fourth in line for leadership"

"Understood, now then is there anything else you want to get out of the way that doesn't involve joining in missions or training?"

"Yes actually, I have a gift for the entire League on this disk, insert it after I'm gone"

"Understood...can you give us any hints?"

"Nope, that's for you to find out once the disk is inserted"

"Very well"

Once Katherine left Superman inserted the disk into the computer and that's when they found out what Katherine had given them. Back when they had first truly become allied with the Cybertronians due to Katherine (before that they were known to each other and worked together during mass emergencies but not official allies per their choice  _way_  back when they first came into contact with one another) they had been given a means of secure communication with either Cybertron or the main base on Earth which was Autobot city (the only reason it was named that was because it was primarily used by the Autobot contingent of the Cybertronians per the decision of the three leaders of Cybertron), however they had  _not_  been given a means of transferring data between the two of them, plus they were still vulnerable to hacks from EDC enemies. Katherine had decided that was too much of a risk now that she was part of the League and had been given permission to give the League special programs that allowed secured data transfers and made it harder for EDC enemies to hack them as well and this was needed purely due to Katherine's position within the Cybertronian army, unofficial as it was while the three primary leaders were still alive, but even with them alive either the League or her family might need to transfer data and that was currently very dangerous


	7. Chapter 7

"This is amazing, what I'm wondering is why now"

"Might have something to do with what we were just told, either that or it might be something completely different and this would have happened soon anyways"

"Unless we ask we'll never know though"

"And unless it's needed we won't ask"

"Good idea"

"So...I get the feeling that things will be interesting"

"No kidding"

The rest of the time Katherine had before starting work was actually pretty calm, the day after she had seen the League she was called into the Planet only to confirm her medical clearance which had included a drug test

"You're all set to start on the second"

"What I'm wondering is why we're meeting here if the Planet is shut down during the holidays"

"That's something Kent suggested actually, getting you familiar with the layout of the building without worrying about so many people about and possibly giving you wrong directions, he seemed to think you can memorize this place with just one or two tours"

"Yeah...there's reasons behind that thought process"

"Secret stuff that I can't know about?"

"Got it in one"

"Very well, but if you need directions to a place in the building I'll give you a few names you can trust to give you accurate directions to where you need to go"

"Since I know that makes sense I will agree to it, just don't be too surprised if you find out that I didn't need directions"

"Okay, I know that Kent can't tell me why he thinks you can memorize this place quickly but is that same restriction on you?"

"In regards to Kent yes, as to how I know for a fact that he's correct no, my family has trained me from a young age to be aware of my surroundings and to learn my layout as quickly as possible in case of emergencies, thus why I will only need two tours of the building at minimum, three at most more than likely"

"Speaking of your family just how classified is that?"

"You know because you have to, but otherwise unless it's by pure accident or like you absolutely necessary no one can know, at least for now that may change depending on several factors but that's a wait and see situation"

"Am I allowed to know those factors?"

"Nope"

"Fine"

"Sorry chief, but those factors are not only extremely vague but then there's also the fact that quite frankly they're personal for my family and could change at a moments notice"

"Understood, now then I don't want to see you back here until the second if it can be helped"

"I know and will obey, but all bets are off if it becomes a necessity"

"I know"

The rest of the time before the second was entirely calm and then the day came that Katherine started her jobs, her Daily Planet job actually sent her on assignment with Lane and Kent to go to the reveal of the newest League member, in private though the three knew they needed to talk first (Lois had known about Clark's other identity since he had been thought dead through the doings of a crooked police officer though she had had her suspicions for sure since Bruce Wayne had come to Metropolis)

"So...how are we going to do this Clark?"

"You type up a few things and we'll supplement them Kerenai, plus we'll figure out a way of proving you were here taking video, though that I don't know about yet"

"Like you said we'll figure something out"

"You nervous?"

"A little bit, but I also know this is standard procedure so there's no backing out of it"

"Your...special people will also be there so that should help"

"I forgot about that even though they recently mentioned that very thing"

"What are you two talking about?"

"Sorry Lois, but unless you have special clearance you literally can't know what we're talking about, as it is my Superman identity has the clearance to know while my Kent identity should have no idea what's going in regards to Kerenai's special guests"

"That must be confusing sometimes"

"Sometimes yes, but for the most part I can keep things straight"

"In any case it's almost time, what about you?"

"It's entirely Kent this time around, Superman has already made statements about his being unable to attend for personal reasons"

"Gotta do your job sometime huh?"

"Yes, the chief doesn't know about my other identity, though I do sometimes wonder"

The press conference went off without any huge incidents, the only hiccup was the microphone going out in the middle of an interview but that was quickly resolved and everything else went okay, then Ratchet signaled that he wanted to meet with the entire League afterwords

"Best let Ratchet know that it's allowed if it is guys"

"Good point"

Finally everyone was at the watchtower

"Okay Ratchet what's going on?"

"Remember that poison detection I've been working on for  _years_  now?"

"Oh yeah, the most recent failure was a year and a half ago"

"I've gotten the insert down and it works 98 percent of the time"

"I volunteer for the first jab, mainly because of the fact that quite frankly while the League trusts you guys in emergency situations they still aren't really going to trust you in regards to medical matters in normal situations"

One of the League members who wasn't around the Cybertronians or knew about Katherine's connection decided to speak up

"And you trust this  _robot_  for medical needs that humans have?"

(Sighs) "Ratchet do you know if..."

"Yes I do and was made the designated relay person since they knew I wanted to speak with the entire League, everyone, not just the founding members can know about our connection, but  _only_  the heroes, any support personnel is still not allowed to know anything, but that's only because of the fact that quite frankly it is very unlikely that they'll ever work beside us, but the main League members..."

"Got it, are you allowed to tell me the reasons now?"

"Part of it was a background check, the other part I found out was them waiting to see if you would actually join the League or not, actually the third reason behind that thought process is because quite frankly we never really thought about it even if we became official allies because until that day we never thought you would fight alongside the League"

"And then that day happened and you guys had to scramble to figure things out and it ultimately took a while for everyone but the founding members to gain your trust"

"Exactly, can you blame us?"

"Nope, I always kinda suspected that due to you having raised me since I was what...two weeks old?"

"More like three months but you were still extremely young"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"I am the legally adopted daughter of the Cybertronians through an equally binding will left by my parents who were in the EDC"

"No wonder you trust him then you've been doing so your whole life"

"Exactly"

"You go first though like you said, we need to see exactly what this procedure is about"

"I know, by the way Ratchet this  _is_  FDA approved right?"

"Yes, that's part of what took so long this time around, my last test when you were poisoned by Cordinleys had been approved but after it's failure I needed to make several modifications and thus needed new FDA approval"

"Wait, why would you need approval for a detection system?"

"Because it's a microchip that I'm inserting into a body, the last time it was an injection of special Cybertronian like drugs that would allow the body to detect poison and fight it until you could get help, this time a microchip will alert those who need to know about the poison and get you out of danger immediately, initial approval was EDC officers only and is only just now slowly being made available for others that are at risk of being poisoned"

"One step at a time Ratchet, now then do you know if it will be expanded to normal civilians as well?"

"Probably not most likely, but only because they're not at high risk of being poisoned, but for now the League has permission to get the microchip and the US military is inserting the microchips in select units as a test run for it's effectiveness of detecting military specific poisons"

"But I thought...no wait never mind I know what's going on there"

Katherine gets injected with the microchip first and the founding members were the next ones to get injected, though for Superman and also Supergirl they had to be exposed briefly by Kryptonite for the injection to penetrate their skin but both agreed it was worth it because they could still ingest and inhale poisons even if the enemy couldn't get to them with knives

"So...I can't stay the rest of the day but I can quickly train the medical staff to finish the injections"

"We'll make a staggered schedule for all League members but hopefully by the end of the month everyone will have the microchip that detects poisons"

"Good make sure that the chips are connected to your network"

"We will, now then is there anything else we need to be aware of before you leave?"

"No, the leaders will contact you directly if anything comes up"

"Got it"

Before Ratchet could leave though J'onn spoke up moments before the alarms went off

"We have trouble"

"What is it?"

"It's the Imperium they've returned"

"But..."

"I don not know how they have returned but they have, and they are not alone, Ratchet you must contact your leaders and let them know that they  _must_  be part of the fight this time"

"What for J'onn?"

"Because they have allied themselves with known EDC enemies"

"Right I'll let them know right away"

"J'onn do you know the exact enemies that we'll be fighting?"

"Unfortunately not Enshrouder girl"

"Got it be prepared for anything then...oh man and I'm going to have to act like I've never fought these guys before while at the same time act like I know what I'm doing"

"Which is why you're not joining in the fight this time, you still need to be established as more than just someone who just joined the League, people need to know you can handle yourself and you need training not to be so familiar with enemies in a safe environment"

"Fine, but I'll be joining in soon enough I promise you that"

"We know"

"In the meantime I can act as adviser since my family is unfortunately going to be too busy for you to be told where the weak points are, you guys just haven't fought enough enemies to automatically know that...except for Quintessons, they pop up way too frequently in everyone's mind"

"Okay, is everyone clear on the fact that Enshrouder girl is the one giving attack commands?"

Everyone replied yes except for Superman and Supergirl, but that was because back when the two sides met and had the potential to become official allies through Katherine she had long said that due to their invulnerability she would not give any  _direct_  combat orders to them and let them make their own plans based on what they heard over their earpieces if she was giving other League members orders on fighting against EDC enemies

"Good, now then one more  _very_  clear order if the Cybertronians give you orders you are to also obey them because that means they know something you don't that either involves the enemy or the city that you are fighting in since I get the feeling that they're going to split up"

"But I thought..."

"No guys, I can't see everything even with me monitoring the situation up here, there are going to be things I miss, and that's where my family comes in because they can cover my blind spots"

"Oh...that actually makes sense now that I think about it"

"Indeed, now then I think you all have your assignments, once you're there let me know and we'll go from there"

"Understood, so wait, what about Superman and Supergirl?"

"They both know their roles in this already"

"She's right, we already know what to do"

"How?"

"Those procedures have been established for a while now"

"How?"

"Not your business"

"Very well"

Ultimately it turned out that the enemies were Lakrins, Delnetlon's, Quintessons yet again with their Sharkticon enforcers, and to everyone's surprise Skranino's, but for the Skranino's they quickly found out that they were under mind control of the Imperium, it still wasn't an easy fight and several times either Katherine or a family member had to give emergency orders to the League for safety reasons and Katherine also was explaining weak points on a regular basis as well and there were injuries for both the League and Katherine's family and the Skarnino's had to be dealt with in a different matter from the rest of the enemy forces because of the fact that the Cybertronians  _knew_  that something was wrong with them but overall things came out okay

"Well, the alliance definitely works"

"Indeed it does"

"Enshrouder girl you do need training though so that you can join in the fight next time, the Cybertronians admitted as much when they said that it took twice as long as normal to find out that the Skarnino's were under enemy control"

"Yeah, that's something I forgot about, due to the fact that we don't normally go up against actual allies under enemy control I tend to forget that my powers have that ability"

"Does that include your family?"

"No, that's something that's always confused us but for whatever reason I never know my family is under enemy control until I am fighting them and others have seen them be put under enemy control and yet avoided that trap themselves"

"Maybe because they're living robots"

"Who knows all we know is that unless it's my family we know immediately that there's allies or at least potential allies under enemy control, they don't always go for trade and alliance agreements but they  _are_  at least not enemies"

"So more passing acquaintances than anything unless they decide otherwise later"

"Exactly, they won't go out of their way to harm us but they also won't necessarily go out of their way to help us if we're in trouble"

"So I guess it all depends on what's going on in their situations at the same time that has them deciding on if they should help you or not"

"Exactly"

"Let's just confirm though that at the very least they won't attack you guys"

"Not without serious provocation like us attacking them, even if we're the one's being controlled, however they  _are_  going to be willing to listen to our side of the story once the initial attack happens and we demand a cease fire for explanations"

"At least there's that much at least"

"Indeed, now then I do want to get in some training today so that we can get things started on me being able to join in the fight against EDC enemies at need"

"Good idea, you also need more training against League enemies"

"That unfortunately will only come with time and actually fighting them"

"I was afraid of that"

"Sorry but there really is no other way since they can be highly unpredictable"

"Figures, I can never learn things the easy way, even if I have actually had practice against the enemies I haven't done so in my identity that we just created, good thing that we had a backstory already solidly prepared or my introduction into the League would be suspicious"

"There's also the fact that we tried to keep you out of things until now"

"Good point"

"For now though you have a second job to get to"

"Right, if you see him Superman tell Clark Kent I have a message for him to pass onto the Chief"

"What's the message?"

"I'll be in China doing that invasion followup story since he apparently never has anyone in China doing such things for whatever reason, I'll let the branches in the other countries handle their own places but China is mine, don't expect me back for a few weeks because I might also do some helping with the rebuilding too while I'm at it"

"I'll pass on the word, and according to Kent whenever I see him the reason no one is in China is because the Daily Planet got kicked out of the country temporarily a few years ago when all the newspapers were being blamed for water issues and a few other things, combine that with the fact that it's hard to work in such a country and the Planet has never really had a strong presence in that country, as it is he's been trying to have a small office there again but because no one wants to live there it's slow going, at least according to Kent through his boss"

"Understood"

Katherine leaves the watchtower and heads to China via a ride from Thundercracker due to the fact that Skywarp was currently there but due for a transfer and Thundercracker was his replacement


	8. Chapter 8

"So...how long are you three being split up again?"

"Another six months before the three of us are all back on Cybertron"

"What caused the split this time?"

"Starscream made that decision saying that it was probably a good idea for the three of us to be separated temporarily so that we can work on our individual abilities that we've been neglecting, combine that with the fact that quite frankly we're a bit spread thin due to that virus on Cybertron and it makes sense to split teams up for a brief period, the Protectobots, Dinobots and the Constructicons are also going to be split up for the rebuilding and the fact that we're simply spread too thin right now"

"Keeping as many teams as possible together?"

"Exactly, the one's that are being split up are being split up for their specific skills  _or_  in the case of the Dinobots they're being split up due to the fact that the three leaders want them to gain experience working by themselves for a time since they have never been split up before"

Suddenly though Thundercracker starts flying erratically

"Thundercraker!"

"It's not me...someone has gained control over most of my systems"

"Great, I thought you guys fixed that problem after the last time someone gained control over Skydive"

"So did we, I guess not"

"Too right you didn't, you're not going to like this but I'm taking over"

"Don't tell me"

"Sorry Thundercracker it's the only way"

Katherine uses her powers on Thundercracker and quickly regains control over her own flight path

"Thank goodness my family insisted I get a pilots license when I was seventeen, and it's also a good thing the League knows about it and will allow me to keep it up just in case"

Katherine then immediately got in contact with the nearest air traffic control and they insisted that she land immediately at the nearest EDC base to make sure that nothing  _else_  was wrong with Thundercracker besides the remote control that was supposed to have been fixed. Once she landed she gave them a full report including the fact that she knocked him out using her powers

"He'll be out for at least another three hours then"

"I know, but there really wasn't much choice in the matter"

"We know, now then where were you headed before this happened?"

"China"

"Then let's get you a flight to China"

"Why are you headed there anyways?"

"Doing my job Conner"

"Got it"

"That's right, you got a job with the Daily Planet didn't you?"

"Yep, and since they don't have a presence in China and I know the language..."

"Got it, you let your boss know?"

"Through another coworker yes, I would have told him myself but I needed to get a head start on this assignment and you know it"

"Good point"

"By the way, why isn't there any presence in China now?"

"Don't ask, as it is I'm the best option in any case"

"Because of your language skills"

"Indeed it's because of my language skills"

"Doesn't hurt that no one covers China"

"That too"

Soon enough Katherine was in China and covering the rebuilding story in various cities and towns and also helping in small ways over the next two and a half months, sending in reports regularly just like other offices were doing across the world, though only hers was more consistent in what she reported and when, and she never mentioned being involved in the rebuilding process personally either knowing that a good reporter always had to be objective, she also did have three League fights in between her stories but others covered those so she knew she didn't have to worry about that. Finally though she was back in the states and at her job at the Daily Planet in the chief's office

"Um...hi sir, I'm back"

"Welcome home Kerenai, while I'm not necessarily happy with how long you've been out of the office I do appreciate you getting the recovery story on China in it's various stages, I have to wonder though how you managed it because I see nothing in your files regarding knowing Chinese"

"It's not there?"

"Nope here are your files by the way"

Katherine looks and realizes that she had indeed forgotten to put down her language skills in her files when she first joined the Planet

"Oops, I thought I had put it in there, guess that's something I'm going to have to fix immediately, but do I have to put my family language in there?"

"No, not unless it becomes necessary"

"Thanks, I'll get this corrected for you immediately and then I have a story to write"

"You just got back"

"I know, but it's an important story nevertheless"

"Okay, have it to me by the evening"

"Will do"

And so fifteen minutes later and the chief had the corrected file on Katherine in regards to her language skills and that night he got the story she had when she immediately got back to work and read out loud an excerpt as a means of double checking her spelling


	9. Chapter 9

"And while the cause of the engine explosion is currently underway and as such not being spoken of in great details, one thing that has already been mentioned by an NTSB investigator is that they're very thankful that there are no fatalities and that it also looks like most of the injuries are fairly mild compared to what they could be"

The chief makes a few minor editing corrections and then sends it off to the press knowing that it was a solid story, though he kind of wished she hadn't been the one to witness the accident during the layover because of what he knew about her and her family but it unfortunately couldn't have been avoided this time around because she  _insisted_  on flying commercial after what had happened on her way to China in Thundercracker, who had recovered quickly enough but was definitely also annoyed at what had happened, and that was the planes, the  _medics_  had been worse according to rumors

"Well, that's her big story of the day, and at least she called ahead of time letting me know that she had no means of typing things up where she was but had it all written down, now to wait until tomorrow when she sees where I put the story"

The next day he saw that Katherine was pleasantly surprised at where her story had ended up because due to the fact that she hadn't been there for two and a half months she had no way of knowing that she'd either been on the first or second page every other day almost since while she had reported regularly she hadn't given a story  _every_ day she had instead given it either every other day or once she gave it one week and then the other but that was primarily due to distance between locations where she could call her story in

"You did good Kerenai, now then I have an assignment for you that should fit very well"

The assignment took half the day, though part of that was due to the fact that she went for a swim to help save lives and she came out sounding like she was coughing up either half a lung or a full lung

"Well...I've had...better ideas...but at...at...least this...wasn't a...completely...terrible idea"

Katherine went back to the Planet a coughing mess and thus sent to the hospital from there by the chief and yelled at the doctor immediately

"You should have come in immediately instead of being told you know"

"I know, but I thought I would be fine after a few minutes"

"Well you're actually in the beginning stages of pneumonia"

"Great, just what I didn't need"

"Fortunately because we caught it early you'll recover much quicker than you otherwise might"

"Good, because I can't afford to be down for too long for personal reasons"

"We understand"

Katherine was immediately started on treatment and sent home, two weeks later (she had been forbidden from League duties by all the founding members who had found out through Clark Kent aka Superman) and she was finally given the medical clearance by both her primary doctor and the League doctor

"Now then you still need to be careful for a few days because the pneumonia has the potential to come back in full force but that's a very low possibility"

"Understood"

Once the founders found out that she was cleared they asked to meet her in private

"What's going on?"

"Due to how quickly you were needed in China I don't think we gave you the full rundown of how things work regarding the League whenever there isn't an emergency summons"

"Now that I think about it neither do I"

And so that's what they do including the rotations on the watchtower and with that almost four months after she joined Katherine was in the watchtower for her first round on watch when suddenly the monitor lit up

"Hello League, if you're watching this that means I've been successful in my hacking attempt, look at the screen behind me and see what I have in my custody"

Everyone sees part of Katherine's family in bonds obviously made to hold them and Katherine was  _fighting_  not to show any emotions because she wasn't supposed to know them real well yet and then suddenly the criminal spoke up again

"Now then as you can see I have them separated in various boxes, now then if I push the blue button..."

They see everyone shocked with electricity

"That will happen however because that one robot decided to fight me I have decided for him to also push the red button as a demonstration of what will happen to the rest of these robots if you don't meet my demand"

The red button is pushed and everyone sees the cell that Jazz was in explode and when the smoke clears there was no cell and no sign of Jazz either

"Here's my demand you have one hour to surrender to me your founding members and the rest of you  _heroes_  are to stop crime fighting permanently, if you don't the rest of the robots die and then I go after the rest of them and the ones they have allied themselves with called the EDC and completely destroy them"

The video cuts out and fortunately while Katherine couldn't show any emotions many other League members were not hindered in that regards and let loose an angry call for immediate action and retribution that was  _totally_  on the legal side of things that also showed that certain League members fully understood how much Katherine wanted to let loose but couldn't (while the League minus support personnel all now knew that the Cybertronians had raised her they still didn't  _understand_  completely what that truly meant in regards to her physical and emotional upbringing), though Superman expressed Katherine's pent up anger and his own the greatest

"WE  _WILL_  GET THEM OUT OF THERE ALIVE! and if that criminal even  _thinks_  he can also go after and destroy the EDC he has another thing coming to him, Green Arrow, Atom, Question and Shining Knight go to their primary base on Earth"

"Where is that?"

"Autobot...no sorry forgot they recently changed that to Cybertron City, Hawkman, Black Canary, Captain Atom and Enshrouder Girl go to the base in Metropolis, and Enshrouder Girl we're having a talk when you get back"

"Understood Superman"

Katherine leaves for Metropolis with her team knowing what the talk was about, her hero identity name because it wasn't the greatest name possible but it was also the only name she could think of at the time and everyone was asking her to change it. Eventually the group was stood down, but not before there was indeed an attack on the EDC base in Metropolis by the same one's that had captured members of Katherine's family

"Well, now that we've taken care of that little problem it's time to go back to the watchtower because we got recalled in the middle of the fight"

"You guys going to be in trouble for ignoring them?"

"No they were monitoring the teams so they already know that we didn't answer due to being in a fight at the time of recall, they just didn't send any other backup because they knew the EDC could handle it"

"Just making sure you didn't need someone to go up there to confirm your story is all"

The group was back in the watchtower and Katherine immediately forgot about giving a report about the battle and just immersed herself into a family hug with all the captives except Jazz and she's finally allowed to let loose her emotions because while she technically didn't know them all too well in her hero identity all support personnel had been locked out of the watchtower for the rest of the day presumably for the Cybertronians sakes but really the founding members had done that for the sake of Katherine because they knew she desperately needed an emotional release by now but had no opportunity because of support personnel and news personnel on earth during the fighting and the aftermath of said fighting as well. While the breakdown didn't allow many to truly understand her connection still to the Cybertronians, there were a couple more than just primarily the founding members who finally  _understood_  just a little bit better how seriously she had been affected by her upbringing by robots

"I'm glad that most of you are still alive, I wish we could have saved Jazz though"

"Jazz deliberately made himself a target for our sake, the moment he did that he decided his own fate"

"I know...the creep said Jazz had fought him"

"And you also most likely know the reasons behind that"

"I do, I do"

Katherine suddenly goes limp but Prowl's scans revealed she had simply fallen asleep finally after dealing with her emotional pent up she'd been forced to do

"It's okay guys, she's simply asleep"

"Okay, maybe you should just stay put until she wakes up, we still need to talk to her anyways"

"I'm actually going to give her a sedative"

"What for Hook?"

"Yeah, you're not medically trained last we knew"

"I asked Ratchet for at least basic training in both Cybertronian and human medicine when Katherine turned twelve and have secretly kept it up ever since"

"Still want to know why you want to sedate her"

"It's easy, she needs the sleep more than you realize Prowl, it's not just the emotional overwhelm that finally got to her but the fact that she's been pushing herself too much even with the care she's taken to help herself recover from the pneumonia faster"

(Sighs) "figures doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah, it definitely figures"

"Fine sedate her, and then she's going into medical for safety"

"Understood, can you guys watch over her Superman?"

"Yes Supergirl and I can watch over her and the medical team has insisted we all learn a little more medicine than what we use in the field just in case"

"Good, we can safely leave her with you guys then"

"You guys need to get back already?"

"Yes we do, we have to report in after what happened live on TV"

"Makes sense now that I think about it, they probably want to know how you guys got captured in the first place, by the way did you guys ever fix what happened regarding Thundercracker?"

"Yes we did, Ratchet was a bit miffed that the initial fix wasn't quite as good as he thought it had been and made improvements"

"I'll bet, but still I'm a bit concerned about you guys leaving so soon after rescue"

"You couldn't do anything if we were seriously injured anyways and you know it"

That argument won the fight in everyone's mind because they knew that Rumble was correct about that bit

"Okay you have a point in that regards, be careful though going back"

"We will be, let either the Primes or Galvatron know when she's awake by the way because they know for a fact that she was involved in a fight"

"You guys always check on her after a fight?"

"Oh yeah"

"Ever since she joined us in her first fight, at first it was because she was so young and then later it was because she developed a habit of 'forgetting' to tell us about any of her injuries, as such we simply always check on her after a fight, and the leaders speak with her themselves once she's functioning to find out if she'd had any problems regarding her powers"

"Makes sense actually now that you mention those abilities and her habits that we're going to have to keep an eye on now that we know about them"

"Yes you will"

Three hours later and Katherine woke up from the sedation and made a call to a base she knew Optimus Prime was at knowing the rules and procedures that they thought no one suspected she had known about for a long time now

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, my emotional health was worse off until I was reunited with almost everyone...Optimus what are we going to do about recovering the remains of Jazz?"

"We're working with the EDC and world government's to first figure out hopefully where the group was kept, seeing as how the League is being a bit secretive about that and the others are also unwilling to talk about where they've been, and once that happens we'll work with the local government to recover Jazz's remains"

"I'll talk to the League about why they're being so reticent, you work on those rescued, they  _might_  have a good reason for being secretive temporarily, at least I hope it's temporary"

The call ends and she sees the founding members waiting for her

"Okay we need to talk about your identity"

"I know, and I need to talk to you guys about what the phone call entailed"

"You mean the secrecy?"

"Yep"

"We were waiting for a week and then reveal the location they were found at, this is for the safety of everyone that is potentially going to be involved in the recovery operation, there were...experiments for lack of a better word that was done there with your family and we think that even with bio-hazard suits it would be too dangerous for the human contingent and as for the Cybertronians it's also a bit dangerous for them as well for about a week, something about radio waves or something that could scramble their systems"

"Why not just shut down what's causing them problems?"

"We've tried that, our methods won't work and the machine is timed to shut down in a week"

"Well that's just perfect why didn't the team that was rescued say something about that?"

"We have no idea"

"Got it"

"Now then, about your name..."

"It was the best I could come up with at the time on my own, I knew it would be problematic for you guys but I wanted to see if it would work and then ask for help afterwords"

"In any case we'll help you figure out a better name, and smooth things over with your family as well"

"How?"

"We have our ways"

"Fine"

And so the League founders and Kerenai talk about the need for a new name and while they don't come up with anything at the moment they knew that they were at least getting closer to what she would be called and then Superman called the Primes and Galvatron personally to explain why the League and those rescued were being reticent without actually revealing what was going on

"We were going to wait a week and then check the levels of the chemicals again with you guys to help us this time around, and because we have to wait for human personnel we decided that you guys didn't need to know either"

"We understand, why didn't those rescued just say that it was too dangerous for our human comrades at the moment?"

"That we're not entirely sure of but probably because they decided to agree with the League's decision"

"At least we have confirmation that you guys have a valid reason for the delay"

"Indeed we did, bye"

Communication is cut and Superman faces Katherine once more

"I think we may need to talk to your family again because there hasn't been this much trouble regarding understanding one another with little communication in a while now"

"Might just, now then I have to work tomorrow so we're going to have to deal with the name issue another time"

"True enough"

"Though still, I wish you guys had mentioned the weapons against them"

"That's not for us to disclose yet, because of the fact that quite frankly because it has a shutdown time we'll know that it's safe once we do a double check, and if it hasn't shut down by then we will tell them the whole truth because they deserve to know the danger that they are in as well"

"Good, now then like I said I have work to go to tomorrow so I should get home"

"We all have places we need to be tomorrow now that I think about it so we'll give you a ride"

"Thanks"

"By the way, we need to do EDC training soon because it took  _way_  too long to rescue your family on our own"

"Why haven't you guys called them about that?"

"We've tried, it hasn't worked, we're being blocked for some reason but as your adoptive family..."

"Got it, I'll smooth things out I promise"

"Great"

Katherine is soon home and first calls Rodimus and finds out that it wasn't just the League that was having trouble communicating with the EDC but also police and military personnel, which  _wasn't_ normal and in fact quite dangerous, the only ones that weren't affected were world leaders and that was only because of the fact that they had direct communication with the three Cybertronian leaders at all times

"Okay, let the other two know and then  _fix it_  Rodimus, this is going to seriously start affecting relationships soon if it's not resolved I can feel it"

She hangs up and then goes to bed knowing that she was getting an early morning the next day due to the fact that she was going to be starting an independent investigation into something that she wasn't even sure was real or not. The next day she started her investigation before going into work for her assigned work by her boss knowing that her unofficial investigation didn't have enough information to see if she could fully investigate her suspicions with his permission


	10. Chapter 10

"Kerenai, I need you to go to Washington"

"What for sir?"

"There's a ceremony being held there for some sort of thing that even I don't fully know about but you've been personally requested"

"Understood sir, sir are you sure you can't give me any more details?"

"Unfortunately not, all I know is that there's a ceremony being held for some mysterious reason and that you were personally requested to witness the ceremony"

"I hate it when the government does this to news reporters, but it is what it is...wait I'm only a camera person, so who..."

"That would be Lane and Kent"

"Got it"

"And Kerenai...keep them safe, I have a bad feeling about this ceremony for some reason"

"Don't worry I will"

"I know you will, you have several rules and guidelines regarding your abilities but one rule that I know has been in place for a long time is that if absolutely necessary you'll reveal your powers in order to save lives"

"The family wasn't exactly happy about that rule but I insisted it was necessary and eventually they came to agree with me"

"Well you guys need to be in Washington by nine tonight so you'd best get going"

"Will do"

Katherine walks out of the chief's office and goes over to the shared desks of Lane and Kent

"Come on you two, we need to get to Washington by nine tonight and there's only one way we're going to do that without going through  _massive_  security and delays"

"Your family...but why do we need to get to Washington?"

"I have no idea, all I know is that there's supposed to be some sort of ceremony or something going on but even the chief doesn't know what's going on"

"Great, this might not end well"

"No kidding, but in any case let's get packed and going"

"You calling your family to let them know?"

"Yeah, they might need to go there too so..."

Suddenly Katherine's phone rings and she sees that it's from Captain Faireborn

"Kerenai here go ahead...yes...yes actually...okay...one hour got it...bye"

She hangs up and the looks she got said that the two people were expecting that phone call and that one of them had obviously heard the entire conversation

"One hour guys"

"Heard and can do"

An hour later and all three of them were at the EDC base for transport to Washington

"Hey Kerenai, so you guys need to go to Washington too huh?"

"Yep, I was personally invited and Lane and Kent are actual reporters while I just work behind the camera so they also need to go"

"And civilian travel..."

"Exactly we do  _not_  need that hassle if we're going to be in Washington on time"

"Come on time to board"

Three hours later and the group was landing in Washington and went through security much quicker than they would have otherwise and checked into the hotel two hours early

"So...since we're early what's the plan?"

"We could get dinner and do some exploring"

"Sounds good"

"By the way I'm warning you guys now I'm armed and dangerous right now if not for the fact that I have a permit and am only going to shoot at EDC enemies if they show up, local cops can handle the normal criminals"

"We understand, you've been raised on having a gun on you at all times and you have the right permits to be able to do so too don't you?"

"Oh yeah I  _need_  those permits because of my unique circumstances"

"Speaking of which, do you know if we'll ever find out, I know that the chief knows your circumstances but..."

"I don't know Lois, I just don't know"

"And like I said my dual identity means my Clark Kent identity doesn't know your unique circumstances but my Superman identity does"

"Yeah, that's both a relief and makes things harder at times"

"You're telling me, I have to constantly remind myself that I can't openly talk to you about it in my Kent identity but in my Superman identity and definitely in the watchtower I am free to discuss things with you regarding your circumstances"

"Speaking of actually, your Superman identity and I need to have a talk soon"

"Understood"

"And when I say me, I mean the me that works with your Clark Kent identity"

"Oh, I thought..."

"Yeah, that's why I cleared things up, Superman needs to talk to Kerenai"

"Got it, when should that happen?"

"Not sure really, but when I say soon I mean soon"

"Understood, let me know exactly when since you're still not giving an exact definition of soon"

"I will, but right now I feel we should focus on this ceremony that we have no clue what's actually going on for"

"Good point"

"The chief has a bad feeling about this ceremony and to be honest I don't feel entirely comfortable either because generally I know why there's a ceremony being held but this time..."

"You're out of the loop by way too much and generally that means something big is up that you're not cleared for even if normally because of your circumstances you are"

"Exactly, generally if I'm kept out of the loop it means something  _big_  is up and they're concerned about my health and thus it's safer to keep me out of the loop unless absolutely necessary like suddenly being in the middle of battle"

"Well hopefully your concerns should be allieved tomorrow"

"Yeah, let's hope so because if not...well there's going to be a  _talk_  with some people"

"I don't doubt it"

Fortunately there were indeed answers as to why Katherine hadn't been told about the ceremony until she was on scene as part of the reporting team. The ceremony involved both her family and several world government leaders, plus it also involved three different militaries and their actions in helping newly gained alien allies. The reason Katherine hadn't been told about it was because no one was sure if there had been any survivors (and with the recent loss of Jazz that would  _not_ have gone over well) and there was also the fact that no one was sure if the species would become allies of any sort and for the moment they were mainly trade partners but it was a step in the right direction at least in everyone's mind

"So that's why I wasn't informed, they were right to keep me out of it all things considered"

"Yes they were, they were protecting you in their own way"

"And even though I generally hate to admit it I did need protection this time around"

Katherine and the other two go back to Metropolis and soon enough the week passed and the League informed her family about why they had been kept away initially in regards to the weapon that they hadn't mentioned the first time around when they had explained why they were waiting a week before having anyone do a retrieval mission

"You were thinking about our safety as well weren't you?"

"Yes we were"

"By the way Kerenai has chosen a new name"

"Oh?"

"Yep, she is going to inform the public that she is now going to go by Power Woman"

"By the way Superman, don't you have a job to do?"

"Not today, Kerenai is investigating something on the side I think but there's no proof"

"She'll let you guys know if it develops into something, I promise"

Meanwhile at the Daily Planet things weren't going well and the only reason anyone knew that was because Katherine's hands were on her hips

"Well, I'm flat out of ideas guys"

"Kerenai is that including..."

"Yep, it's why I didn't go there in the first place chief"

"That's not good"

"No it's not"

"Anyone else have ideas?"

"It turned out that everyone was drawing a blank in their situation and with the chief knowing that Kerenai was drawing up a blank even if she did use her powers it let him know that things were  _bad_ and could quite possibly mean a call to the EDC if they didn't think of something soon

"Okay people, start shouting out potential ideas, even if you think they sound stupid"

And so the idea shouting started and then Jimmy Olsen said something that took them all by surprise

"Well, what if we cause a distraction like a minor fire and then through the computer send an SOS to the police or EDC?"

"Kerenai?"

"Technically that could work chief, however I must point out that there would be  _extreme_  danger even with what we're trying to keep secret, if even one element of the plan went wrong..."

(Sighs) "I know, but in all honesty this is so far the best option I've heard of"

"Okay, does anyone else have any ideas that may sound stupid but aren't actually that bad of an idea because hate to admit it, but I am  _still_  drawing a blank"

It turned out that no one else had any other ideas good or bad


	11. Chapter 11

"Okay fine we're going by Jimmy's suggestion, but I must warn all of you that except for the chief you're all going to be signing paperwork for safety reasons"

"She's serious by the way guys, you legitimately need to sign this paperwork for your own safety, I had to sign it when she first joined, and by the way Kerenai you and Lane have a retrieval story"

"You mean..."

"Yep, I know that you need this for personal reasons"

"Right, now then, someone start the fire and you'll learn just what needs you to sign paperwork"

The fire is started and then the group as a whole discovers just what Katherine had been keeping secret from them the entire time

"Arranyan shields"

Suddenly they notice that the fire wasn't getting much bigger but they also noticed that the smoke was also still leaving the shield that they could barely detect, however when the sprinklers started they soon found that the fire wasn't going out, that the shield was protecting the pretty small fire

"Okay, time for phase two of the plan, I need to stay here but we still need a hacker for the outside world and unfortunately I'm the best hacker there is"

"Hey I'm pretty sure I could do the hacking"

"Jimmy, no offense, but I could hack the Pentagon, with permission as one of the security testers, by the time I was ten, I was hacking the EDC on a regular basis for security testing by the time I was eight, if you could beat that record than I'm afraid that you can't beat me in hacking skills"

"Which means we need to modify our plans"

"Not too greatly, we will have company in about three minutes if my estimation is correct and these guys are dangerous"

"Okay, maybe if we can do things from here..."

"Nope, sorry chief but I...kinda did a thing with the computers on this level the second day I was officially in the office, I won't get into the specifics of what I did but I essentially made this room hack proof, and when I say hack proof I mean that not only can no one hack these computers but no one can use these computers to hack anyone else either. I did this in case this scenario ever came up so that there was at least one level where our computers couldn't be used against the government"

"Wait, are you saying that you made sure that if something like this happened and you were on this level no matter how much threatening was done no one could hack a computer from this level?"

"Exactly chief"

"Good girl,might want to do that for every computer"

"Wrong again chief, the ability to hack from at least one computer is always going to be a necessity for situations like this"

"Well that's all well and good, but we still need a way to get word to the outside"

"I know...and we're about to have a harder time of doing so"

"We're out of time aren't we?"

"Oh yeah"

"Can you put out the fire by cutting out oxygen?"

"Nope, there are reasons behind that but that will be for another time and even then...we might not be able to hide the evidence anyways depending on the enemy"

The enemy was finally truly visible and Katherine gave a small gulp at seeing who they were up against knowing that things weren't going to end well if even one wrong move was taken, and for the enemy a wrong move could be simply walking around being taken for an aggressive action

"Well, well, well, Katherine Kerenai, we weren't expecting to see you here, I think it's safe to assume you remember the last time we met?"

"I remember, you still have yet to pay for those lives lost and you know it"

"We'll get away again"

"We'll see"

Once the group was in a single room with a guard outside the chief spoke up

"Okay, this is a sound-proof room, what's going on Kerenai?"

(Sighs) "Okay first thing you need to know is that any sudden moves, even if it's just you walking across the room to take care of personal business can be construed as an aggressive act against them, second thing is that while they're not necessarily telepathic they  _are_  extremely well versed in reading body language, it comes from the fact that about half of that race tends to be deaf from birth or loses their hearing within the first five years of their lives. They're not necessarily allies but they're also not exactly enemies either, the group that have captured us would be considered terrorists on their home world with a shoot on sight order if deemed necessary and are automatically to be imprisoned if possible"

"How do you know all of this? I mean we know you have powers but..."

(Sighs) "I don't know if even this situation allows me to explain what's behind my knowledge, but once I know I'll let you guys know, in the meantime this means that we're going to have to modify our plans to get word to the outside"

"No kidding, they don't look like they'll let us leave the floor"

"They won't"

"So...what now?"

"That's what's going to be tricky, we need to come up with a new part two"

"And do it without getting ourselves killed"

"Okay...this is going to take time, for now though we need to be careful about any movements that we make so that no one gets killed"

"This is going to make things complicated isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, the fire department would have been called most likely and then shot at too if my guess is correct about what we heard a few moments ago"

"Which means police involvement"

"Not...not necessarily because the department may not have recognized it as being shot at"

"Great, we definitely need a new plan"

Everyone thought and then Katherine spoke up

"I think I got it, but it's going to take  _very_  careful timing and a bit of slight of hand due to the fact that the hacking plan is now unable to be handled"

"Hey I think I could hack if given access to a computer on another floor"

"Again I don't think so, but for a very different reason this time"

"What reason could that be?"

"The enemy won't let us access computers, period, my original reasons still stand against other enemies though but for this situation it's because we won't have access to the computers"

"Great, so what's the plan for communicating with the outside world?"

"That's what I need help with, I can open the window with the excuse of fresh air but I want a note to slip out as well, but I can't be the one to write the note and the enemy can't see me throw it either, thus the timing and slight of hand in where the note is passed to me discreetly"

"Right, let's try and figure things out"

Fortunately they did manage to enact the plan pretty much flawlessly, Lois of course managed to cover for one of the other workers who had moved just a  _tiny_  bit too fast towards the desk for allergy medicine that they legitimately needed (the worker had deliberately forgotten to take his medicine at the correct time when he realized that the building had been taken over by enemy forces and that a distraction might be needed and his severe seasonal allergies were a  _great_  distraction in his mind) and the message was sent out the window without any suspicions placed on anyone. Once that was done everyone was put back into the room because while there were no suspicions about a message being sent it was deemed easier to keep everyone in one location unless absolutely necessary and even then only one person at a time was allowed to use the bathroom

"Well?"

"Done, now it's only a matter of time before we find out if we succeeded or not"

"But the message..."

"May not be understood by the police and there's also the possibility that it won't even be taken to the police if a civilian picks it up and thinks it's just a random piece of paper"

"Wait are you saying..."

"That it could potentially be thrown away? I most definitely am"

"That's not going to end well ultimately"

"No kidding, if that happens we're going to have to think of a plan C and further I think"

What Katherine and everyone else at the Planet didn't know at the moment was that the note had been picked up by a firefighter, but not just any firefighter but one that had been raised by parents in the EDC and as such understood the message being sent and therefore actually told his Captain that he needed to visit the EDC base for a couple of hours for security reasons that he couldn't get into at the moment

"Three hours mister, that's all I can give you with you being so mysterious, good thing the department developed procedures for such things though or you wouldn't be able to leave for that long"

"No kidding"

The firefighter goes to the base and demands to see the commanding officer of the base and is granted his request due to the fact that the base knew he wouldn't be acting like this without very good reason

"What's wrong?"

"We've got a problem"

"Oh?"

"Yes, a very serious problem, and that problem is this"

The firefighter slams the note that was crumpled down on the desk and as soon as the base commander read the message they sucked in their breath and then nodded

"Right, you give us what information you have and then get back to work, I know you're on a time limit in regards to being gone from your post"

"Right, so here's what I know so far about the situation"

And so the firefighter explained everything he knew about the situation so far and then the base commander made the only decision they could

"Right, we're taking over the situation"

Once the EDC arrived Katherine received an alert through a  _very_  unique means. Back when she had been in England for almost a year for safety reasons her family had realized that Katherine needed to know when EDC officers were on scene at a crises where she was at but for whatever reason couldn't really act against and with her help she was implanted with a unique tracker where her family could find her location in an instant if they needed to but the tracker would also warm up for a few moments as a signal that there were EDC officers ready to take action where she couldn't. When her right shoulder heated up for a brief moment she knew that the situation was almost over with and they were about to be rescued

"Right, this ordeal is about to be over with, there's going to be a  _lot_  of activity in a few moments so I need everyone to remain calm and in this room, it's the safest option"

"How do you know this?"

"That's...related to what I am unsure if I can reveal or not"

Three hours later and everyone was at the EDC base being debriefed, and Katherine had a private phone call where it was decided that her job needed to know who had raised her since it had been discovered that the criminals had deliberately targeted the Daily Planet because of her working there

"Right, I'll let them know then, oh and if Superman comes by the base tell him...tell him that Clark Kent is now allowed to know the same thing as Superman regarding Kerenai's family"

Katherine gets off the phone and goes outside since she was using the Chief's office for privacy

"Okay everyone, you have paperwork to sign naturally but I have been given permission to tell you guys  _everything_  regarding today"

"Wait when you say everything do you mean?..."

"Yes Chief, I am cleared to reveal my entire self"

And so once the paperwork had been signed Katherine revealed everything about herself, from her powers to the fact that the Cybertronians had raised her from a baby

"Wait, so that's why you knew so much about the enemy"

"Yes, we've met them before, like I said the people today were rogues even on their own planet, generally we're not allies but we're not enemies either with that race, we're actually still developing our formal relationship with them in all honesty even after five years of talks with them"

"Five  _years_?"

"Yep, sometimes these things take that long, or longer depending on several factors"

"So...why is your past sealed anyways? I mean besides the obvious risk you are at for abduction"

(Sighs) "I'm afraid that it's pretty complicated, part of it was the abduction risk, even normal EDC kids have a higher risk of being abducted than regular kids in high ranking situations because we are the linchpins of our families and unfortunately my family who is willing to risk everything to safely get the child back, part of it is what happened today, generally speaking people are safer if they don't know my background simply because of the fact that depending on their occupation they aren't that heavily involved with the EDC or me, there are also other reasons behind my past being sealed that I am not comfortable explaining to you guys at the moment primarily because we're still getting used to each other, and even once I am here longer I may never be comfortable explaining the other factors being my records being sealed, we'll just have to take things as they go"

"Understood Kerenai, now that we're aware of your family you can call them openly and speak openly about what you are discussing unless it must be classified within EDC circles"

"And I am  _very_  glad about that, by the way I am going to be leaving soon for EDC business"

"Oh?"

"Jazz, we're retrieving him soon alongside the Justice League and I want to be there"

"Granted you deserve that right"

"Indeed, I think only the Cybertronians would trump her right to be there"

"Not...exactly, if I was only known to them through my parents that may possibly be the case but...that might not be the case depending on if they had still changed their chain of command even with my parents alive, we just don't know"

"Basically various factors affect how much of a right you would have to be there"

"Exactly, being their adoptive daughter I have every right to be there, but if I hadn't been...well then my family would definitely trump me in being there for the recovery"

"In any case, you have a week beyond the date of his recovery for this"

"Sir..."

"No Kerenai, there's a reason beyond them being family that I am giving you this time"

"Sir?"

"There are...reports from people higher up than me that many reporters from around the world are beginning to experiment with extra leave after something major to their family or their country happens, seeing if taking longer helps the healing process any or not in regards to how they handle similar situations in the future, they never push things too far but I want your input for here, thus the reason you're being given a week once Jazz has been recovered despite how long it's been since his loss already"

A day later and the team had finally arrived at the last known location of Jazz, it would take another three days before his remains were found, surprisingly intact despite the explosion but definitely deceased (as far as everyone knew anyways)

"We've found him at last"

"Yes...would you like Supergirl and I to...to take his remains to the nearest EDC base?"

"No...no we want him taken to the watchtower first"

"What for Galvatron?"

"Easy Kathy, while the rescue mission may have failed, I know for a fact that not every member of the League mission that tried to rescue our members is here, but that they  _are_  on the watchtower, they deserve the chance to say goodbye and apologize in private before a public funeral is held"

"That is...agreeable, we'll make the necessary arrangements to get him there safely and then take him home once the time comes"

And so Jazz was taken to the watchtower and Katherine came up as herself, something that was  _very_  rare for a League member, however Katherine was unique because of her status as the adoptive child of the Cybertronians, it had been decided that if something happened in her League identity that required her family to be on the watchtower she could decide if she would see them in the watchtower as her normal self or as her League identity, this time everyone knew that it would be Katherine herself and not Power Woman who would be at the tower, even if she wasn't necessarily saying her goodbyes yet she needed time to actually mourn and not be stoic as was expected of her

"Could someone put me on Jazz's chest? I always felt closest and their aura best there, according to my family that's how they calmed me down almost every time when I was a baby"

"Of course Kerenai"

Shaeyera grabbed Katherine by the arms and then gently put her on Jazz's chest near where they knew the spark had been, once on the chest Katherine layed herself down flat with one ear down as if she would be able to hear the spark beating again

"Oh Jazz, you'll be missed"

She starts crying soon after and the League gives her the time she needs for her tears to dry out because she also shouted herself hoarse which they knew was part of the grieving process. Finally though they knew it was time to take Jazz's body to Earth and that meant that Katherine had to be taken off of his chest first and Superman was the one to volunteer for that duty


	12. Chapter 12

"Katherine...it's time to take him back"

"I know, we have to..."

Katherine suddenly stopped talking and moving and everyone knew that meant something was up because she never left her sentences unfinished, combine that with the shocked look on her face and they knew it was something not expected

"It can't be, it just  _can't_  be"

"What is it Kerenai?"

"Superman can you guys detect my family's sign of life?"

"No, I can't penetrate their armor"

"Where's Batman?"

"He's in Gotham right now doing his night patrol"

"See if it's safe to call him up here, if it is tell him...tell him I need that equipment my family and I discussed privately with him about"

"Okay but...why?"

"There's something I need to check for myself"

"Okay, in the meantime we'll send Jazz back to earth for..."

"NO!...no don't do that, not yet, not until I confirm my suspicions about something"

Superman calls Batman who is actually able to come to the watchtower immediately with the equipment that Katherine had requested

"What's going on?"

"I'm honestly not sure, but right before we were going to return Jazz to earth Katherine said not to and for you to bring that equipment, she's been on his chest the entire time"

"Get me up there"

And so Batman is soon on Jazz's chest and as soon as he sees Katherine he knows instantly why the equipment had been asked for because what no one but Batman knew was that Katherine was so in tune with the auras of her family that she could tell if they were still alive or not when no other equipment could, and thus with his help they developed equipment that Katherine could charge with her powers to detect even the faintest sign of life, the only catch was that Katherine had to be  _absolutely_  as calm as possible for her to sense if someone was actually still alive or not for the equipment to be used. Once the equipment was set up only Batman heard what Katherine said right before she powered up the equipment

"Please let me be right"

She powers up the equipment and then everyone jumps at the unusual sound that they suddenly heard, when that sound was heard though they saw Katherine noticeably perk up and go for her phone

"Katherine here...where's Ratchet or First Aid?...I see...I see...is Hook available?...can you tell him to come to the watchtower?...it's urgent...okay...okay...I'll ask" (Puts a hand over the phone) "can the teleporters handle a Cybertronian Batman?"

"Yes, we should be able to"

"Good...okay they said that it should be possible...send me coordinates...okay talk to you guys soon Rodimus"

Fortunately Batman was proven correct and soon enough Hook was at the watchtower

"What's going...is that...status report Kerenai, now"

"I felt his aura and had Batman bring the special equipment designed just for such an occasion, it's faint and we could still lose him at any moment, especially considering how long he's been without Energon with these injuries but Jazz is  _alive_  still Hook"

"Right, everyone stand back, Batman you and Katherine need to get off of his chest"

"Right, Superman, Hawkgirl?"

And so the two are quickly off of Jazz's chest where Hook would get to work and then remain at work for the next three hours, when asked why Jazz had yet to be returned Hook had given various excuses that were almost completely valid all things considered but no where's near the real truth about the fact that Jazz was alive but in critical condition. Finally though Jazz stirred for the first time in a long while and actually spoke, though his voice was noticeably quieter than normal

"What happened?"

"Easy Jazz, don't try and talk right now, you're still in critical condition after being thought dead for over a week, I've gotten you stable enough for transport but I think to do so safely will require you to be in emergency stasis, however your Energon levels..."

"Too low"

"Yeah, that's the problem I have, if I put you into emergency stasis like this we could lose you for real this time"

"Actually...there might be a way"

"Kerenai?"

"I know it sounds crazy and it slightly is but...there might be a way to safely put Jazz into emergency stasis and be able to revive him once back on earth and more repaired than what you can do here Hook"

"How so?"

"Me, there's a theory I have regarding my powers, something I haven't tested because of the risk to both myself and you guys. As you know I can detect your energy fields or aura even if it's so faint most technology can't detect it, I'm wondering if my powers could sustain you guys long enough in emergency stasis for emergency transport where you could be hooked up to machines that would keep you guys alive until you're no longer out of critical condition, but like I said there are risks, very serious risks at that"

"What kind of risks and just how serious are they?"

"The most serious risk is death for both of us, and even if that doesn't happen there could be...well disabilities, permanent disabilities for both sides mental or physical or even possibly both and those disabilities vary in the severity as well, and that's even if it works which it might not I might add, and don't  _even_  get me started on my powers because that could take three or four months depending on if I go one by one on the list"

"She's not kidding, it literally takes that long with her powers...Jazz?"

"Do...it"

"Sorry Jazz, can't do that in your condition, Hook, it's your decision as medical officer"

"I concur, do it, I will closely monitor both of you for adverse affects, and the League can transport us directly to where Ratchet is, I can give them the coordinates"

"Good, two minutes between the use and unconsciousness due to previous experience that you're aware of"

"Oh...that incident"

"Yeah, that incident, no one was happy about that incident including me by the way"

"We're lucky no one got hurt as it is"

"No kidding, considering it was a  _complete_  accident there could have been injuries to me or you guys"

"What incident are you guys talking about?"

"Later, right now Jazz needs medical attention beyond what the watchtower can provide, I'll use my power on him to try and stabilize him further in emergency stasis once we're on the transporter pad"

Soon the three of them are on the transporter pad and as soon as Hook confirms Jazz is in emergency stasis Katherine uses her powers to keep him alive, falling unconscious fairly quickly. Three minutes later and all of them are at the base First Aid was at due to the fact that Ratchet couldn't take doing Jazz's autopsy on top of dealing with five injured combiners from three different teams

"Hey Hook, I can..can take over the autopsy"

"No, he needs to be hooked up to our version of a life support system immediately"

"What?"

"He's still alive First Aid, still in critical condition and currently in emergency stasis thanks to Kathy, but we can't keep this up for long, we need to separate them as quickly as possible"

"Right, how is she keeping him stable, I'm reading  _extremely_  low Energon levels still"

"Her powers, but she herself said it was highly risky doing this"

"Right, let's get them to medbay now"

Eventually Jazz was hooked up to their version of a life support system, which would keep him alive until repairs were completed

"Right, now what?"

"The only way to do this is to physically break their contact, I don't like it but that's the only thing that worked the last time when it was completely accidental"

"The most dangerous method that we have too"

"Unfortunately it's the only option that we've got, she can't tell that he's on life support for whatever reason"

"I think that might be because while she can detect our auras I think they feel the same almost constantly, even if we're near death"

"We'll ask her later, but she is  _definitely_  going to be under observation for a bit"

"Her job isn't going to be happy with her, either job, and for one of them she was only granted a week of mourning after his remains were recovered"

"Her other job didn't specify but considering what that job is..."

"Exactly, now then Kathy, we need her off of Jazz's chest to continue the work you did already"

"How do we do this?"

"Just pick her up, she doesn't stir when like this"

And so that's what they do and she instantly wakes up after being disconnected from Jazz

"Hook..."

"It's okay Katherine, he's hooked up to our version of life support and First Aid will be taking over on his care"

(Sighs) "I didn't know, it's good that he's safe"

"By the way you're under watch for a bit of currently undetermined time"

"Oh I knew that was happening when I told Hook that there were potentially extremely serious risks, the fact that we haven't died yet has turned those serious risks into potential serious disabilities but since I have  _no clue_ how long between actually doing this and potential consequences happening it might be safest for me to be under observation between three and six months initially"

"Generally you don't like such long term observation"

"I know, however I feel it safest that ways"

"Understood, by the way we  _really_  need to figure out a way for you to detect when someone is on life support because I'm worried about this happening yet again either by accident or deliberately"

"I've talked it over with the Primes, Galvatron and the ones I inadvertently gained my powers from and we have no clue how to resolve this issue"

"How often have you guys tried?"

"Since the incident happened when I was ten"

"We never noticed"

"Yeah...we were doing our best to be discreet and secret about it"

"Summer vacation"

"Winter vacation a couple of times too First Aid"

"Oh...why wasn't Ratchet or I involved?"

"That's...that's complicated I'm afraid First Aid, more complicated than you could ever imagine" (thinks) " _They don't need to know that it's been determined that if we ever try anything other than physical separation it will kill me within five months to a year depending on their method of choice, because unfortunately the reason I can't tell the difference is deliberate by my powers as some yet undetermined safety feature, you guys trying to medically get me to detect the difference would seriously disable me due to the fact that since I've been around them and their medicine enough times I am slightly immune to adverse effects even with my powers_ "

"For now though I think Katherine's job needs to know the truth about Jazz...maybe even offer them an exclusive this time, and not simply because of you working for them Kathy, we've been debating this for some time now in regards to the next time something like this happens where one of our own that we believed dead returns to us alive"

"How do you know about this Hook?"

"I have my ways"

"Except for the fact that I know for a fact that all of the newspapers have been invited to Jazz's funeral once held, if it's not held and the other newspapers find out by reading the Daily Planet that Jazz is alive..."

"Good point, in any case we need to tell the Primes and Galvatron about this development now that he's slightly more stable"

"Not yet Hook, I want him even more stable first, he's still in critical condition after all"

"I'm staying until then if that's the case"

"Understood Katherine, you know the drill for doing so"

"Indeed I do"

"Still need to figure out the reporters though"

"Wait...didn't Optimus state that the funeral wouldn't be for at least three days after recovery and the League releasing his body, he thought they might need longer to say goodbye"

"Might have if I hadn't detected his aura, we'll never know though"

"Indeed we'll never know"

It would take another fifteen hours but finally Jazz was stable enough to be taken off of the critical list


	13. Chapter 13

"Okay, now we can let the Primes and Galvatron know about Jazz and they can make the decisions from there regarding how much to reveal to the news and if the Planet gets an exclusive or not"

"If not an exclusive they may choose to let them be one of the first one's to ask questions"

"Well first we have to tell the leaders about this"

"True, I'll take care of that"

An hour later and the Primes, Galvatron and Ratchet were at the medbay and surprised to see Jazz unconscious but alive

"He still needs some recovery time, but he's no longer in critical condition, we're still not sure how he survived over a week in his condition but he did, and Kathy being able to detect his aura saved his life ultimately because you know our procedures with someone we've lost"

"Indeed we do"

"We need to tell everyone about Jazz's survival"

"When and how though is the question"

"Today, in three hours, the Daily Planet gets first question rights, the next time this happens they get the exclusive as already agreed upon when we figured out the connection between Superman and a certain reporter who was there and yet not there"

"Oh so you two know about..."

"Superman and Clark Kent being the same person, yes"

"Does he know that you guys know?"

"Yes, the founding members of the League told us their identities back when you first got involved with them as a safety feature where if they absolutely had to take you in temporarily for your health or safety we would know where to go to pick you up"

"Oh...didn't know that"

"But we also told him that we had figured it out for ourselves about three years before he revealed himself to us"

"Oh now then since I can't be part of this interview I should get back to Jazz, besides there's something I need to do here on base that I've delayed since...since we almost lost Jazz live"

"Understood, we will thank the League again in private for helping us regain Jazz, even though we thought it was his remains that had been recovered"

"You guys make that decision without me, I'm staying completely out of this one"

Three hours later the world via the news (which meant it would take about two hours depending on if someone was watching the news or not) found out that the Cybertronians were not in fact holding a funeral for Jazz, and while that caused a stir the announcement that the reasons behind not having a funeral for him was the fact that he was actually still alive and in stable condition turned things into pandemonium for a few minutes, but after that things calmed down and the questioning began, with the Daily Planet getting the first question in. Once that was taken care of the family decided to find out exactly what Katherine had been needing to take care of since they thought they had lost Jazz

"Kathy...what were you doing for three hours?"

"It's...it's something really complicated and not exactly something I ever thought I would do"

"Kathy..."

(Sighs) "I think we need to talk about your adoption of me and what we didn't know about my feeling your auras"

And so Katherine finally explains all the aspects about her powers and their auras, including finally letting the medical team know that any medical interference with her ability to feel their auras would either kill her or seriously disable her depending on how they affected her ability to feel their auras since it was an as yet determined safety feature. She also explained that losing one of them or almost losing one of them and not being close enough to actually feel their aura fade away affected her mental health and she had needed a release through a special mental ceremony

"Being our daughter probably doesn't help matters does it?"

"No I was  _fighting_  my instincts when we thought Jazz was lost"

"You wanted to let loose your emotions but couldn't because in your League identity we don't know each other well enough for that"

"Exactly"

"How can we or the League help in the future?"

"That's something I don't know, and the ritual is a means of saying goodbye and also welcome back whenever we find out that one of our own hasn't been lost as we thought, I believe that it's worse if I see the assumed death in person or at least on screen then if I hear it from one of you guys but I don't know that for sure yet"

"What about if it's simply their time after fighting a Cybertronian illness?"

"I don't necessarily think I'll be seriously affected because I'll know it's coming and that it's probably a release from pain"

"Have you heard from your job regarding the new situation?"

"Yes I am still to take a week off to deal with everything"

"Did you tell him you're emotionally unstable at the moment?"

"Nope, he felt I would want the entire week to just revel in the fact that Jazz is actually alive and would want to be part of his initial recovery depending on how long it takes for him to get out of bed"

"Oh, not knowing that you're the one who discovered that he was alive in the first place"

"Exactly"

Suddenly though Katherine put a hand to her right ear and pressed against it and while they couldn't hear what she was hearing over the League earpiece that she was wearing at the moment (they deliberately made sure that they couldn't overhear any League conversations over earpieces since they knew that if they were needed by the League the League would contact them over their secure lines) her body language was saying that it was potentially serious. Finally though they heard her end of the conversation

"Give me five minutes then transport me to the situation" (hangs up in a way and turns to her family) "sorry guys I have to go, there's an emergency and the League has been called in and I was one of the ones that was chosen for the mission, I don't know when I'll be back though"

"Don't worry, we know you can take care of yourself and we'll have any updates regarding Jazz ready for you upon your return to base and consciousness depending on how tired you are after your mission"

"Thanks"

She quickly changes into Power Woman and let's the League know she was ready for transport where she would remain there for two days (it was a disaster zone with the occasional League enemy trying to cause trouble). Finally though things were under control and she was able to be transported back home

"Hi, situation under control enough for me to come home, time for sleep"

Katherine would sleep for a solid twelve hours before she woke up and got an update on Jazz's condition which had improved even further in the two days since she had left to handle the situation the League had needed her for (they had found out about the disaster via the news)

"He'll be allowed on light duty within two days, but I don't know after that, he's going to be restricted to the base for at least a month, maybe more depending on how things go for him"

"He's not going to like that"

"Both you and he are going to like me even less Kathy, you're both banned from radiation of any kind for the next four months at minimum, and that's on top of your self induced restrictions Kathy"

"Understood First Aid, I knew that this was a possibility"

"Wait, why is she being banned from radiation?"

"Sorry officer, but you're not allowed that information"

"Understood sir"

Soon enough the week was over and Katherine was back at the Planet and it turned out the first assignment back (her side project had yet to be taken back up) was with a nuclear power plant

"Sorry sir, but that's an assignment I'm going to have to refuse"

"What for?"

"Doctor's orders sir, I'm to stay away from radiation for the next four months"

"Which doctor?"

"First Aid sir, he also said that once he's back on duty Jazz is on the same four month restriction"

"Got it, I'll do my best to make sure that you aren't exposed to radiation of any sort then and will assign someone else to the power plant story"

"And sir, you might want to make sure that everyone else gets checked out as well when given these assignments"

"Kerenai?"

"I...it's mostly just a feeling but...between my family and other training..."

"Okay, I'll start being more careful about those assignments"

"Thanks sir, hopefully my feelings turn out to be nothing but..."

"Better safe than sorry all things considered"

"Exactly sir, exactly"

"For now...Jackson you, Olsen and Rachel are to go to the nuclear power plant, and when you get back we're checking your radiation levels"

"Understood sir"

"By the way Kerenai, how long should those checks be made?"

"Make it once a week for a month after exposure and then once a month after that for undetermined amount of time"

"Got it"

"But Kerenai..."

" _No_  Jackson, I am not bending on this one radiation could  _kill_  you if not discovered in time, and even now there's still a small chance of death, the  _only_  reason there's a better chance then before is my family has designed treatments for radiation exposure that almost guarantee life no matter how bad the exposure is"

"Kerenai I don't..."

"Stop arguing Jackson"

"Let me finish first then Kerenai and you'll find out what I'm trying to tell you"

"Very well"

"I agree that almost everyone else should get the routine testing however I can't ever be affected by radiation which means I can't ever get radiation poisoning or sickness. This is due to previous radiation exposure which...changed me to make me immune to radiation of any kind in that while I can still be given x-rays to check for broken bones and there's a special type of radiation exposure used to check other internal issues that might not be picked up on by an MRI no matter how much radiation I am exposed to I won't get cancer or other symptoms of radiation sickness. Your family has done the tests themselves by the way Kerenai and know what they're talking about, and I think I know why you've been banned from radiation for four months and I won't be if I was in the same situation"

"You mean you can..."

"Yes, very safely too"

"Okay you're the exemption, I should have heard you out in full first but...can you honestly blame me for being protective of my coworkers?"

"No, no I can't"

"In any case the rest of the group is under the restriction as Kerenai has declared, and Jackson while you may not need the same restriction I  _am_  requesting that you be monitored for radiation exposure levels as well so as to  _try_  and limit the exposure to the office"

"That I will agree to I don't want to spread radiation to work any more than you would chief"

"Now that we're agreed on that, you guys had better get going, due to the fact that I don't necessarily have a story myself I request permission to just walk around the city to see if I can't find something later on"

"Of course Kerenai"

Ultimately Katherine did indeed have a story to take to the chief and it was  _big_ in the long run. She had managed to stumble across an underground slavery ring that went high in the offices of the city government, though fortunately it didn't reach the level of the mayor

"Only you Kerenai, really only you"

"It's taken longer than I wanted for this story as it is, there's a lot of healing to be done, by a lot of people, and some might never recover fully or at all"

"What's the federal government going to do about this?"

"I have no idea, but we'll find out in short order"

Ultimately a lot of work was done by the federal government to help those that had been freed from slavery. As for Katherine she would continue as a reporter and a Justice League member for the next 35 years, sometimes working with her family but most times not, though at least she got to work with them in her League identity enough to show emotions whenever something happened to them, even if she couldn't show as deep an emotion as she would have in her civilian life. As for her reporter life she won the highest award for her work 10 different times during her active reporting career, even though it was primarily behind the camera that she did her work. First Aid's and her fears after she had saved Jazz that one time never came to pass and eventually they found out why her powers wanted her unable to tell the difference between the family being on life support and not, because there was five different instances where the equipment was thought to be working but wasn't in reality and her sharing her powers was the only thing keeping them alive (the ones who had accidentally given her powers  _had_ managed to do a thing with medicine that she couldn't describe that would insure that her sharing her powers with her family to keep them alive was never a dangerous thing). After retirement she lived a relatively calm life until her death at a respectable age where she was buried on Earth with honors


End file.
